Hopelab & Well Being Trust 19
Many young people describe actively curating their social media
feeds and self-regulating their social media use in order to maxi-
mize positive and minimize negative effects.
Based on more than 400 open-ended responses provided by teens
and young adults describing how they use social media when they are
feeling depressed, stressed, or anxious, it appears that:
"It just helps me feel outside myself for a bit and find interesting
topics I'd like to ponder on. When you're depressed, it's easy
to get caught in a loop but through actively reading every
day through social media I can always be preoccupied with
information."
"Social media makes me feel worse when I'm scrolling through
feeds and seeing news headlines and posts about how terrible
something is."
"Social media makes me laugh and keeps me distracted so that
I have time to breathe and collect myself."
"It's much easier for me to reach out for help on social media
than in person. There's less pressure and I can leave it there and
live my life outside of it without thinking about it too much."
Key Finding 10
• Every individual responds differently to social media when
they are feeling poorly. Many survey participants exhibit
a high degree of self-awareness about the impact social
media has on them during those times.
As noted above, based on the quantitative survey findings, 30%
of young people with moderate to severe depressive symptoms
say using social media when they feel depressed, stressed or
anxious usually makes them feel better, and 22% say it usually
makes them feel worse. Examples of the different ways young
people respond to social media include:
Key Findings