Last year scientists reported a link between obsessive use of Facebook among teenagers and depression – but this notion has not received a “like” from University of Wisconsin researchers.
They conducted a study that refutes the idea that spending a lot of time on Facebook, or any other social media site, could exacerbate a user’s unhappiness.
A connection between Facebook and depression was brought to the attention of mainstream media last year by a report written by Dr Gwenn O’Keeffe for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The report served as guidance for paediatricians on how teenagers use social media.
It noted that sites such as Facebook could make some youngsters feel badly about themselves due to the intensity of comparing themselves to their friends' upbeat status updates and photos of smiling faces could make them feel left out.
While O'Keeffe noted this is more likely in kids' already struggling with anxiety and depression, it can also occur, she claimed, in normal kids and teens due to the emotional flux of the preteen and teen years.
"Facebook is where all the teens are hanging out now. It's their corner store," O'Keeffe said.
She added in a telephone interview with The Huffington Post UK that while social media life had its good points, it could also “heighten anxiety in some kids and teens and for that reason we need to ask about the online lives our kids have and be on the look out for mood changes".
However, the University of Wisconsin study found that parents have no need to worry unduly about Facebook.
Researchers found it may be unnecessarily alarming to advise patients and parents on the risk of "Facebook Depression" based solely on the amount of Internet use.
Researchers led by Lauren Jelenchick and Dr Megan Moreno surveyed 190 University of Wisconsin-Madison students between the ages of 18 and 23, using a real-time assessment of Internet activity and a validated, clinical screening method for depression.
The students were surveyed with 43 text-message questionnaires at random intervals over a seven-day period between February and December 2011.
The students were asked if they were currently online, how many minutes they had been online and what they were doing on the Internet.
The study found that the survey participants were on Facebook for over half of the total time online. When Jelenchick and Moreno evaluated the data including the depression-screening results, they found no significant associations between social media use and the probability of depression.
"Our study is the first to present scientific evidence on the suggested link between social-media use and risk of depression," said Jelenchick. "The findings have important implications for clinicians who may prematurely alarm parents about social media use and depression risks."
Moreno, a paediatrician who has been widely published in the area of social-media use among children and adolescents, advises parents to look at their children's social media use in the context of their entire lives.
She says parents don't have to be overly concerned if their child's behaviour and mood haven't changed, they have friends and their school work is consistent.
"While the amount of time on Facebook is not associated with depression, we encourage parents to be active role models and teachers on safe and balanced media use for their children," said Moreno.
According to recent studies, more than 70 percent of adolescents use social media sites, most commonly Facebook.
In response to the University of Wisconsin study, Dr O'Keeffe said: “Since the release of the social media clinical report, I’ve been a huge advocate of parents partnering with their children online. However, we have to compare apples to apples as we assess new information.
"Current data and thinking still support the concept that too much time online is isolating for adults and kids as noted in recent research out of the University of Utah and from well known researchers such as Sherry Turkle from MIT in her compelling work, Alone Together. Dr. Moreno’s study is not applicable to the pediatric world because it involved college students.”
The results appeared on Tuesday in the Journal of Adolescent Health.