Researchers Identify Key Thinking Patterns Behind Excessive Social Media Usage

According to a new research published in Addictive Behaviors, there is a strong relationship between psychological distress and social media use. Everyone nowadays has social media presence and they are used for social interactions frequently. But the constant use of social media sites has proven to be problematic. When an individual obsessively uses social media, it leads to a lot of negative effects like abandoning responsibilities, social isolation and rise of mental health issues.

The study aimed to provide insights into cognitive processes that lead to problematic or negative social media use. The researchers said that a lot of worry and distress or thinking about desires can lead to harmful social media use. For the study, the researchers gathered 548 social media users with average ages of 29 years. The participants were asked to complete some psychological assessments like the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21, the Ruminative Response Scale, the Penn State Worry Questionnaire and the 10-item Desire Thinking Questionnaire.

The results of this activity confirmed the researchers’ suspicions. It showed that psychological distress leads to extended thinking styles like desire thinking, worry and rumination which leads to excessive social media use. Keep in mind that the study doesn’t talk about cause and effect. It just talks about the relationship between problematic social media use and extending thinking and distress.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World