• Social media is bad for your mental health – at least that’s what previous research says
• However, new research from Saïd Business School has found that social media can actually have a positive effect on adults’ mental well-being
• The researchers found time spent interacting with friends and family on social media platforms correlates with positive subjective and psychological well-being

“I’m deleting Instagram again” is something I announce on a bi-weekly basis, much to the annoyance of my friends and family who continue to send reels and tag me in content which will never be looked at.

Like many people, I believed there was a direct correlation between negative mental health and increased social media use. Having a break every now and then seemed like a healthy way to manage this. And I’m certainly not alone in thinking this – there are many studies that back me up.

For example, this study from the National Institute of Health (NIH) found that social media envy can affect the level of anxiety and depression in individuals. A University College London study similarly found that social media use interventions are effective in improving mental well-being in adults, especially for depression and when using therapy-based interventions. They do, however, note that reducing social media use alone is unlikely to benefit mental well-being.

But even I can be wrong occasionally. New research from Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford has revealed that social media can actually have a positive effect on adults’ mental well-being.

Is previous research wrong?

Surely this contradicts all of the previous research then? To some extent yes, but the answer is not so straightforward.

The researchers at Saïd Business School acknowledge that prior research generally does conclude that social platforms negatively affect people’s welfare. However, much of this research that looks at the relationship between social platform usage and subjective and psychological well-being is based on small or unrepresentative samples – adolescents, for example – or its methodology is limited (such as research that is self-reported).

In a debate that was seemingly over, this new research bursts open the door, using a robust empirical methodology to examine the time series effects of social platform use on users’ subjective wellbeing, psychological well-being, physical health, and financial security.

Academics at Oxford Saïd conducted a six-month longitudinal study of 1029 adults, with participants’ daily time using social platforms on their mobile device unobtrusively tracked and their well-being measured every two weeks.

The study measured actual social platform usage instead of relying on self-reports. This eliminated potential biases, removing the risk of underreporting due to ‘mindless scrolling’, concerns that high usage would make them look bad, and biases of past research – for example, negative effects of social media use have received substantial media attention so participants may want to ‘help’ researchers confirm these effects.

By measuring individuals over a six-month period, the researchers were able to demonstrate how changes in the use of social media correlate with subsequent wellbeing.

How social media use can have a positive impact on wellbeing

Unfortunately for those of us who love to doom-scroll on TikTok, the study did not find that just any social media use improved mental wellbeing.

Instead, it was the time spent using social platforms that facilitate interactions with friends and family correlates with positive subjective and psychological well-being. Sadly, the doom-scrolling will have to go.

Commenting on the paper, Andrew Stephen, Deputy Dean for Faculty and Research, and Founder and Director of the Future of Marketing Initiative at Oxford Saïd said, “Social media is used by billions of people daily for all kinds of purposes, from entertainment to commerce to keeping in touch with friends and family. In recent years there has been an ongoing debate around whether using social media is healthy, which this research contributes to.”

The researchers clarified that this research does not mean that all kinds of social media use are good for us but rather shows that how people use these powerful and ubiquitous communication platforms matters.

When social media is used as a means of communication and engagement with people close to them such as friends and family, ‘meaningful connections’, it can be very positive.

Why is doom-scrolling bad?

But sometimes you just don’t feel like talking to people, and this is when we tend to reach for Instagram or TikTok to scroll through reels. Have you ever noticed that when you do this, time seems to speed up?

According to Dr Matt Johnson, professor of Psychology and Marketing at Hult International Business School, this is because social media is disrupting your memory.

How much novelty we’re experiencing during a period affects how fast or slowly we perceive time to be moving. Memory consolidation, or the time taken to process an event and build a memory for it, requires some downtime. That’s the one thing short-form videos don’t give you. As you’re scrolling, each new video you watch disrupts the memory for the last. “Once the next video begins, it’s like the last one never happened,” writes Dr Johnson. 

“You can easily come away from an hour on TikTok having felt like 10 minutes, and with only a memory of the very last video you’ve seen. Caught in a state of perpetual proactive interference, your memory is only as good as the last piece of content you’ve seen,” he continues. 

Using social media in a healthy way

So should we delete Instagram to boost our mental health?

Social media is very complex, and as much as it can connect people, provide inspiration and increase our mood, it can also be a negative space which spikes envy and comparison. The Oxford Saïd study touches on this, revealing – contrary to research before it – that social media can have a positive impact on mental wellbeing if used in certain ways.

Despite that, it’s very easy to dip into that negative side of social media – and if that happens, as the UCL study suggests, do take some time away from it.

Personally, I will now be ending my two-week Instagram hiatus, and re-downloading the app – except maybe now I will take some extra time to respond to my family and friend’s messages!

By, Chloë Lane

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