Heavy social media users are more likely to develop depression

If you're a frequent social media user, this is bad new for you.

According to a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study, the more young adults use social media, the more likely they are to become depressed.

Dr. Brian Primack and his colleagues sampled 1,7787 U.S. adults ages 18 through 32, using questionnaires to determine social media use and an established depression assessment tool.

Participants who used social media for an average of 61 minutes every day and visiting accounts 30 times per week, a quarter of them were classified as having "high" indicators of depression.

Dr. Primack in an interview about the study: "It is important to explain that, because this was a cross-sectional study, directionality is not clear from these results.

One strong possibility is that people who are already having depressive symptoms start to use social media more, perhaps because they do not feel the energy or drive to engage in as many direct social relationships.”

"People who engage in a lot of social media use may feel they are not living up to the idealized portraits of life that other people tend to present in their profiles.

"As with many things in the social sciences, it may also be that both of these directions are accurate.

“This would be concerning, because it would imply that there is a potential vicious circle: people who become depressed may turn to social media for support, but their excessive engagement with it might only serve to exacerbate their depression."

The University of Pittsburgh study looked the 11 most popular social media platforms at the time: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Google Plus, Instagram, Snapchat, Reddit, Tumblr, Pinterest, Vine and LinkedIn.

Dr. Brian Primack is the director of Pitt’s Centre for Research on Media, Technology and Health.