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Seeing someone’s mark “I like” in front of our entry, we rejoice: we were appreciated! But it seems that even such a sign of attention can cause stress for teenagers, and in the long run lead to depression.
Today, an active social life is almost unthinkable without social networks. Our children are immersed in virtual life. They are concerned about everything that happens with friends, and they themselves are almost every minute ready to share their own news, thoughts and experiences with others. That is why psychologists are so interested in the question: what are the costs of a “hyper-connected” life? It turned out that even likes on social networks can affect the well-being of adolescents. And with an unexpected effect: the more likes, the more stress. This is evidenced by the research of psychotherapist Sonia Lupien (Sonia Lupien), professor of psychiatry at the Medical Faculty of the University of Montreal (Canada). She wanted to find out what factors contribute to the onset of depression in adolescents. Among these factors, her team singled out the “Facebook effect.” Psychologists observed 88 teenagers from 12 to 17 years old who had never suffered from depression. It turned out that when a teenager saw that someone liked his post on the social network, his level of cortisol, the stress hormone, jumped. Conversely, when he himself liked someone, the level of the hormone decreased.
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Then the young people were asked to talk about how often they use the social network, how many “friends” they have, how they maintain their page, how they communicate with others. The researchers also regularly tested the participants for cortisol over a three-week period. Previously, researchers had already found that high levels of stress were associated with a high risk of depression. “Stressed teenagers don’t become depressed right away; they happen gradually,” says Sonia Lupien. Those who had more than 300 Facebook friends had higher stress levels on average than others. You can imagine how high the stress level will be for those who have a friend list of 1000 or more people.
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At the same time, some believe that there is no cause for serious concern. “High cortisol levels are not necessarily harmful to teenagers,” says family therapist Deborah Gilboa. “It’s all about individual differences. Someone is more sensitive to it, for him the risk of depression will be quite real. And someone stress, on the contrary, motivates. In addition, according to the therapist, the current generation quickly adapts to communication using social networks. “Sooner or later we will develop ways to comfortably exist in a virtual environment,” she is sure.
In addition, the authors of the study noted a positive trend. Observations of teenagers showed that stress decreased when they treated others with participation: liked their posts or photos, reposted, or published words of support on their page. “Just like in our lives outside of the internet, empathy and empathy helps us feel connected to others,” explains Deborah Gilboa. — It is important that social networks are a convenient channel of communication for children, and not become a source of constant unrest. When a child takes too much to heart what is happening in his feed, this is a wake-up call for parents.
1 Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2016, vol. 63.