Social media use is a better predictor of depression than many other common factors such as one’s job and educational background or time spent on other activities such as playing video games, surfing the web or watching TV.
Meanwhile, researchers observed a correlation with self-reported depression in survey respondents starting at 2.5 hours of daily scrolling.
Researchers from the University of Cincinnati and Northwestern University assessed 11 years of data from the annual Media Behaviors and Influence Study starting in 2014 and found that social media use was among the most important predictors of self-reported depression.
“When it comes to depression and social media, the argument is salient across scientific test after test of those 11 years,” corresponding author and UC Professor Hans Breiter said.
“It’s a damning picture. Social media is harmful for individuals across the lifespan. We should not subject ourselves to a product using addiction science to optimize our viewing time.“
The study was published in the Nature Portfolio journal Mental Health Research .
UC researchers collaborated with co-lead author and Professor Emeritus Martin Block at Northwestern University. While numerous studies have documented associations between social media use and negative outcomes such as mental health conditions, especially depression, none have used AI to show these relationships persist in adults.
Researchers examined 183,300 anonymized surveys from adults ages 18 to 70 from the Media Behaviors and Influence Study conducted annually since 2002 by Prosper Insights & Analytics. The survey asks 1,318 questions across topics and the respondent’s health across 31 measures, including self-reported depression.
They used a machine learning model that was evaluated with tools designed to ensure its accuracy and calibration. Using this model, they found an increasing relationship between social media use and depression.
“Much of the published research has focused on younger populations, single datasets or broad measures of screen time. We need studies that distinguish social media from other digital activities and examine whether the same associations appear across different populations and years,” co-lead author and UC Research Associate Vikram Suresh said.
Researchers observed a correlation with self-reported depression among respondents who spent at least 150 minutes on social media per day. They observed the same result in each of the 11 years studied.
“Mental health and happiness are about engaging the world and having purpose, not passively watching something for hours,” Breiter said.
UC doctoral student and study co-author Johnathan Avant said people long have suspected that excessive social media use could have negative health effects.
“You can see trends on social media where they talk about the mental health toll it has on them,” Avant said.
Researchers found that social media increasingly became a bigger predictor of depression during the 11 years studied, eclipsing many other factors like TV viewing or web surfing.
UC senior research associate and co-author Nicole Vike said consumption of social media has changed over the years.
“Initially, social media was a social outlet with people you knew,” Vike said.
Now, people typically consume content made by strangers, she said.
“It’s crazy how addictive it can be. Look at chronically online content creators,” Vike said. “They often have to take a monthslong hiatus from being online for their mental health.”
The study was supported with grants from the Office of Naval Research and a donation from UC alumnus Jim Goetz.
While the $300 billion industry has become ubiquitous in daily life, UC’s senior research associate and co-author Sumra Bari said there are ways people can limit time spent on social media like setting timers, turning off notifications and fully logging out of accounts after every session to make it harder to scroll again out of habit.
But it might be unrealistic for people to simply turn it off, she said.
“There is a lot of social pressure to stay connected and be out there. So being aware of the risks as early as possible is important,” she said.
Professor emeritus Block noted, “Social media is a common marker of our cultural age much like the automobile was more than a century ago. But social media has an important negative effect through its association with depression, much like the automobile is associated with injuries from crashes and pollution.”
Breiter said their findings suggest it’s in society’s best interest to find ways to mitigate the harms of today’s deeply online culture.
“This is a wake-up call,” he said.
npj Mental Health Research
Data/statistical analysis
People
Social media use and depression across 11 years of U.S. adult data
22-Aug-2026
No competing interests.