Social Media and Mental Health
Social Media and Mental Health


	
	
		
	

	
	
		
		
	

	
	

	
	
	
	
	
    
        
    
	

	
	
		
		
			95 Pages
		
		

		Posted: 14 Sep 2021
		
			Last revised: 29 Jul 2022
		
		
	
	
		
			
			




	Luca BraghieriBocconi University - Department of Decision SciencesRo'ee LevyTel Aviv University - Eitan Berglas School of EconomicsAlexey MakarinMassachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management; Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance (EIEF); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

		
	
	
	
	
	



	
	
	
	
		
		
	
	
		
			Date Written: July 28, 2022
		
	

	
	
		
		
	

	
	
		
	
	
		Abstract
		The diffusion of social media coincided with a worsening of mental health conditions among adolescents and young adults in the United States, giving rise to speculation that social media might be detrimental to mental health. In this paper, we provide quasi-experimental estimates of the impact of social media on mental health by leveraging a unique natural experiment: the staggered introduction of Facebook across U.S. colleges. Our analysis couples data on student mental health around the years of Facebook's expansion with a generalized difference-in-differences empirical strategy. We find that the roll-out of Facebook at a college increased symptoms of poor mental health, especially depression. We also find that, among students predicted to be most susceptible to mental illness, the introduction of Facebook led to increased utilization of mental healthcare services. Lastly, we find that, after the introduction of Facebook, students were more likely to report experiencing impairments to academic performance resulting from poor mental health. Additional evidence on mechanisms suggests that the results are due to Facebook fostering unfavorable social comparisons. 
	
	

	
		
		


	

	
	

		
		

	
	


	

	
	
	
		
	
	
	

	
	
		
		
			
				
			
		
		Keywords: social media, mental heath, Facebook, depression, social comparisons
	
	

	
    
    
	

	
	
		JEL Classification: D12, D72, D90, I10, L82, L8
	
	

	
	

























    	
	
				
	
	
	
   	
	
	
	
	
	            
	















	












   
  











    
    
    
    
















	



    




	
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