Hopelab & Well Being Trust 55
We first present our findings among teens and young adults as a whole,
and then go into more detail to explore social media use among young
people with moderate to severe depressive symptoms. As mentioned
earlier in the report, we used a validated measure of depression (the
PHQ-8 depressive symptoms scale).
Our purpose in this part of the report is to describe young people's
uses of and responses to social media, particularly as it relates to their
mental well-being. We present information on direct associations
between self-reported frequency of social media use and current
depressive symptoms. (Because this survey was conducted at a single
point in time, it cannot offer any evidence about whether social media
use causes depression.) We also explore how and why young people
say they use social media, including specifically as their use relates
to mental well-being.
This section of the survey report covers the following topics:
• How often young people report using social media, whether
they think they spend too much time on it, and whether they've
ever taken a break from social media;
• Which sites they report ever using, and which sites they say
they use the most;
• How important social media is to them in terms of serving
different functions in their life, such as communicating with
their closest friends, keeping up with their broader social
circle, feeling less alone, expressing themselves creatively,
or getting inspiration;
• Specific ways they report using social media, such as how
often they post their own content, whether they ever "stalk"
other people online (check them out extensively without them
knowing about it),
23
and how often they like or comment
on other people's content;
23
See Methodology section for a discussion
of this term.
Social Media Use and Mental Well-Being
