Is excessive social media use linked to poorer health?

Researchers in the US measured the social media use of 251 university students and their health, finding a link between high social media use and poor physical health.

Excessive use of social media can lead to high inflammation in the human body and cause symptoms such as headaches, chest and back pain, a new study finds.

A group of researchers from the University at Buffalo and Ohio State University have discovered a link between social media use and poor physical health.

In a peer-reviewed study, they write that they tested college students for C-reactive protein (CRP), which indicates inflammation due to an infection. Levels of C-reactive protein in a person's blood can also help diagnose a chronic inflammatory disease or determine someone's risk for heart disease.

The study found that participants who used social media excessively had higher levels of CRP. The researchers also found that the higher the social media use, the more somatic symptoms (such as headaches, chest and back pain) and visits to doctors and health centers for treatment of illnesses, the study explains.

“Social media use has become an integral part of the daily lives of many young adults,” says David Lee, PhD, the paper’s first author and an assistant professor of communication in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University at Buffalo. “It is critical that we understand how engagement on these platforms contributes to physical health.”

Lee et al write in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking that a recent study shows that “Americans average about 144 minutes a day on social media – more time than they spend exercising, socializing directly with others, or eating.”

The researchers also mention that Generation Z (people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s) are particularly high users of social media, with around six hours of their days spent texting, online and on social media, and they report being online on a “near-constant” basis.

While there have been many studies focusing on the impact of social media use on psychological well-being, researchers say, there have not been many studies examining how social media use relates to physical health.

“This (that there are not more studies focusing on the link between social media use and physical well-being) is surprising,” they write, “given the prevalence of social media in everyday life and the close link between psychological well-being and physical health.”

The researchers note that while several studies in recent years have focused on social media use and physical health, which also suggested a link between the two, the research was largely based on self-report or the effects of use exclusively on one platform, the news release notes.

"Our goal was to extend previous work by examining how social media use across multiple platforms is associated with physical health outcomes measured by biological, behavioral, and self-report measures," says Lee, an expert on health outcomes related to social interactions.

Asking how social media use might be linked to physical health, the researchers write that one possible route "could be through changing health behaviors," trt.global reports.

They note that some studies suggest that high levels of social media use may affect sleep by reducing both the quantity and quality of sleep. They point out that especially for those who use social media excessively, who exhibit “addictive social media or mobile phone use,” it can lead to “reduced sleep quality and insomnia.” And lower sleep quality or quantity leads to poorer physical health, “including increased risks for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and early mortality.”

The authors write that this perspective is consistent with the displacement hypothesis, which posits that “time spent on social media may have detrimental effects by displacing activities that are beneficial for well-being and health – for example, sleep, physical exercise, or face-to-face interactions.”

Then there's the increased stress factor that comes into play with hyperactivity. And with more stress comes even worse health, as it can "increase the number and severity of somatic symptoms, the probability of infection and the severity of symptoms after exposure to a cold virus, and systemic inflammation."

Thus, the researchers formed a hypothesis that high levels of social media use may be associated with poorer physical health and examined these thoughts for college students who are the age group most engaged in social media.

They studied 251 university students aged 18 to 24, who provided blood samples and completed questionnaires about physical health and social media use on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram (the surveys were conducted in 2017 and these were the most popular platforms at the time.)

The researchers also checked the students' responses with another survey that "measured validity by determining the extent to which participants took their role in the study seriously."

“We were able to establish a link between the amount of social media use and these indicators of physical health,” Lee said. “The more participants used social media, the more somatic symptoms they experienced and doctor visits they reported. They also showed higher levels of chronic inflammation.”

According to Lee, this study is just the beginning of the beginning to understand the relationship between social media and social health.

"By looking at a biological marker in blood, we were able to find a relatively more objective link between social media use and physical health, but this correlative finding cannot rule out the possibility that poor health influences social media use," says Lee.

Lee adds that “In our previous research, we found that those with high self-esteem benefited from social media use, but people with low self-esteem did not. So the effect may be more nuanced.”

“There’s still work to be done,” Lee says. “But for now, I wanted to get the word out there that social media use may be linked to important physical health outcomes.” /Telegraph/