Understanding the relationship between social media use and depression: a review of the literature

Abstract

PurposeThis paper analyzes the existing body of work on the relationship between depression and social media use in the information system field, including the impact of social media use on depression, the effect of depression on social media use and the association and interaction between depression and social media use.Design/methodology/approachUsing the systematic review method, this study selected the Web of Science, Emerald, Science Direct, JSTOR, Wiley Online Library and Taylor and Francis Online as search databases and ended up with 29 papers that met all the authors' requirements.FindingsThis study identified five possible reasons for the inconsistencies between the findings of the selected studies. First, uses and gratifications theory has different influence mechanisms in evaluating the relationship between social media use and depression. Second, gender can moderate the impact of social media use on depression. Third, age moderates the association between social media use and depression. Fourth, for adolescents, the time spent on social media has a critical effect on their depression. Fifth, negative personality traits (e.g. rumination, envy, etc.) can play a significant role in mediating the relationship between passive social media use and depression.Originality/valueThis study conducted an evaluation of the relationship between depression and social media use. First, the authors summarized the research framework and main body of work covering the relationship between depression and social media use. Second, the authors proposed possible explanations for the inconsistencies between the findings. Third, the authors discussed and explained the possible influence mechanisms of the existing results.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-04-2021-0211.

Understanding Social Media Information Sharing in Individuals with Depression: Insights from the Elaboration Likelihood Model and Schema Activation Theory

“… 9 These information-sharing behaviors (ISB) may propagate negative emotions across their social networks, potentially exacerbating their depressive symptoms. 10 Therefore, gaining a thorough understanding of the ISB of individuals with depression on social media is essential for devising effective mental health interventions and refining the policies of social media platforms.…”

Self-esteem and Social Media Dependency: A Comparative Analysis of Welsh- and English-Medium Pupils’ Perceptions

“…H6 stated the positive association between SMD → Depression would be stronger for FLWs, which was supported. In recent times, with the increasing popularity of social media, the empirically supported positive relationship between SMD → Depression has attracted the attention of numerous researchers (e.g., Mou et al, 2020;White-Gosselin & Poulin, 2022;Balakrishnan & Lajuma, 2021); however, it should be observed that support for the positive association is not unanimous (Karakose, Yirci, & Papadakis, 2022). In support of the positive association, studies have suggested numerous explanations, which would appear to hold greater applicability for FLWs given their demonstrated stronger positive association between SMD → Depression.…”