The use of the internet, social media apps and smartphones has long been thought to have a negative impact on our mental health. However, a new study using data from more than 2 million people casts doubt on this idea. Researchers say they searched for conclusive evidence linking technology to mental health but found none.
Andrew Przybylski, professor of human behavior and technology at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), and OII researcher Matti Vuorre authored a study titled "Global Well-Being and Mental Health in the Internet Age." It examines the long-held belief that the internet has a detrimental impact on users' mental health.
One of the significant differences between this study and similar surveys is its extensive data set. Researchers collected data on 2.4 million people aged 15 to 89 in 168 countries between 2005 and 2022.
The first part of the study focused on participants' self-reported mental health based on life satisfaction, positive experiences, and negative experiences. This is in stark contrast to the adoption of internet and mobile broadband in various countries over the past two decades.
The second part focuses on mental health by meta-analyzing the incidence of anxiety, depression, and self-harm and their relationship with Internet technology adoption over the past 20 years.
The researchers concluded that global well-being and mental health have experienced only small and inconsistent changes over the past two decades. Although global Internet usage has increased from 17% in 2005 to 65.7% in 2023, this shows that there is no connection between the two.
"We looked very hard for the 'smoking gun' linking technology to well-being, but we didn't find it," Przybylski said. "There is a widespread belief that the internet and mobile phones have an overall negative impact on well-being and mental health, but this view is unlikely to be accurate." It is indeed possible that something smaller but more significant is happening, but any blanket claim that the internet is having a negative impact on a global scale should be viewed with a high degree of skepticism. "
In addition to collecting data directly from users, the researchers also gathered information from tech companies, although this proved difficult given the security restrictions imposed on some data. The researchers urge the companies to be more open about disclosing this information for the purposes of such research.
"This data exists and is continuously analyzed by global technology companies for marketing and product improvements, but unfortunately is not available for independent research," the researchers said.
Part of the report is consistent with other research showing that the association between social media use and life satisfaction is more negative during specific times during adolescence.
Back in 2021, leaked documents revealed that Facebook had been studying the impact of Instagram on the mental health of younger users over the past few years. The company has long maintained that social media can have a positive impact on users' mindsets, but its research appears to contradict those claims. An internal Facebook presentation said: “We are exacerbating body image issues for one in three teenage girls.”
In October, it was reported that 40 states in the United States sued Facebook for harming children's mental health, claiming that parent company Meta "profited from children's pain."