While there are many factors, I'm convinced that our most popular social media platforms, Facebook in particular, cause depression.
It's anecdotal, but when I stay off FB I feel better about life. When I compulsively browse for hours, I feel terrible about myself, my friends, and the state of the world.
Intriguingly, Facebook has started doing sentiment analysis, putting them at risk of discovering with statistical rigor that their product causes depression. If so, their position right now is no different from the tobacco companies, in that they know that they're making their users sick.
It's anecdotal, but when I stay off FB I feel better about life. When I compulsively browse for hours, I feel terrible about myself, my friends, and the state of the world.
Intriguingly, Facebook has started doing sentiment analysis, putting them at risk of discovering with statistical rigor that their product causes depression. If so, their position right now is no different from the tobacco companies, in that they know that they're making their users sick.