Those who cope with stress or anxiety by posting frequently on Facebook are more likely than others to develop an addiction to the social media platform, according to researchers at the Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany.

Surveying 1,500 people across Germany and the United States, they found that depressed individuals who use Facebook as an escape mechanism from everyday life tend to feel better in the short terms after venting or seeking social support but, in the longer term, they are more likely to develop what these scientists are calling Fad or Facebook addiction disorder.

Fad, they say, can be defined as excessive use of Facebook, thinking about Facebook a lot, feeling anxious if one cannot logon at a given moment, and needing to get a bigger “hit” ie stay online increasingly longer, in order to improve one’s mood.

There are many studies on the links between mental health and excessive use of technology; however this one not only looked at individuals in two different countries, it also chose a cohort of college students as well as older, employed individuals in order to extrapolate to a wider population.

[ https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/cyber.2019.0165Opens in new window ]