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Social media–depression link put to test

An 11-year analysis found a persistent association and explored how the relationship changed with social media daily use.

  • By

  • Kathryn Wighton

  • September 15, 2026

  • 3 min

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  • 1

    Higher daily social media use was associated with self-reported depression among US adults across 11 independent samples.

  • 2

    The study analyzed data from approximately 183,300 adults aged 18 to 70 years collected from 2014 to 2024.

  • 3

    An additional 60 minutes of daily social media use corresponded to approximately 1.17 times the odds of self-reported depression.

  • 4

    Balanced random forest models indicated moderate discrimination with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve values ranging from 0.66 to 0.74.

  • 5

    The study's cross-sectional design prevented causal conclusions about the association between social media use and depression.

Original Source(s)

Social media–depression link put to test

  • by Kathryn Wighton

  • September 15, 2026

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