A recent study by Eline Frison and Steven Eggermont in the Social Science Computer Review found a connection between Facebook use and depressed mood in teenagers. What’s interesting about this study is that it hypothesizes that virtual support can be a substitute for live interaction:
– H1: Passive Facebook use (consuming and reading content) will positively predict adolescents’ depressed mood.
– H2: Active Facebook use (posting messages or pictures) will negatively predict adolescents’ depressed mood.
– H3: Perceptions of online social support will mediate the relationship between active Facebook use and adolescents’ depressed mood.
A survey methodology was used, controlling for demographic variables, and utilizing a bootstrap method to value questions related to mood and perception of social support.
The conclusion is that only when adolescents actively use Facebook and subsequently perceive social support from their Facebook friends, it decreased adolescents’ depressed mood. However, when social support is not perceived, adolescents’ depressed moods do not improve. These findings were supported for girls, but inconclusive for boys. The researchers, however, feel confident that this would hold true for boys as well across further studies.
We human beings are a resilient species with the ability to psychologically adapt to rapidly developing technologies. We were created to be social and have found new ways to interact with one another. I just wonder if this ability will drive us to stop the face-to-face conversations and lead us to a world where machines will choose our friends, our social support and our intimate relationships…Our free will is a gift that we should not take for granted but I guess this is a topic for a different conversation.
Frison, E. & Eggermont, S. “Exploring the Relationships Between Different Types of Facebook Use, Perceived Online Social Support, and Adolescents’ Depressed Mood.” Social Science Computer Review, 0894439314567449, first published on January 21, 2015.
http://ssc.sagepub.com.ezproxy.lib.usf.edu/content/early/2015/01/21/0894439314567449.full.pdf+html