Social Media May Fuel Anxiety

Let's face it. Facebook may enhance anxiety, according to a new survey.

Going through Facebook posts or friends' Instagram photos can make you more aware of their stress, as well as your own.

Study of stress through the Internet, social media, email and phones by Pew Research Center showed that the users of these digital technologies don't show higher levels of stress than non-users. Still, social media users become more aware of stress in the lives of others, especially family and friends. It could transfer into anxiety in their own lives too.

It is estimated that 15 million Americans suffer from social anxiety disorder, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. You can check the symptoms when kids are 13. More than just shyness, social anxiety make people be anxious about the judgment and probe of those around them, according to theatlantic.com.

"Awareness of stressful events in others' lives is a significant contributor to people's own stress," Pew wrote. "It is the only factor that we found that is common to both social media use and psychological stress. The number of undesirable events associated with stress is greater for women than for men," according to rt.com.

How social media users handle such awareness indicates why the digital technology users do not appear more stressed than non-users. However, they can still be impacted by increased insight or knowledge, which is called the "cost of caring" by Pew.

"How can it be that social media use is not directly associated with stress, but for some, social media use can still lead to higher levels of stress?" Pew asked. "The answer: The relationship between stress and social media use is indirect. It is the social uses of digital technologies, and the way they increase awareness of distressing events in others' lives, that explains how the use of social media can result in users feeling more stress."

On the one hand, digital technologies have eased the overall stress in women compared to that of non-users. However, the survey showed women more than men being impacted by the "cost of caring" issue.

Pew's survey posed a question for its 1,801 Americans: did they know about any 12 stressful events had happened to someone close to them---either an acquaintance, or both in the past year? The kind of events could include "hospitalization, death in the family, divorce or marriage, being fired/laid off, being accused of a crime, starting a job, demotion/pay cut, being a victim of a crime, having a child move away or return home, pregnancy or child birth, and moving to a new house."

Pew discovered that on an average, women could make out 7 percent more of such events than men, even as they reported higher levels of stress due to their knowledge.

It was also discovered that social networks were responsible for the different varieties of awareness of events in others' lives. Facebook showed to be "the one technology that for both men and women provides higher levels of awareness of stressful events taking place in the lives of both close and more distant acquaintances."

Hence, Pew said that social media use can result in a kind of information overload about others, which would impact one in a negative manner.

"This study suggests that the information transferred through social media translates into awareness of all kinds of extra things, including an awareness of undesirable events in the lives of family, friends and acquaintances," Pew wrote. "Whether as a result of social media, or more traditional forms of interaction, awareness of undesirable events in others' lives generates a cost in terms of increasing psychological stress, and with it, higher risk for the physical and psychological problems that often accompany stress."