Is Social Media Problem Use a form of Psychopathology?: Associations among Self-reported Social Media Use and Problem Use, Psychiatric Problems, Substance Use, Impulsivity, and Subjective Well-being in US adults

Social media provides numerous benefits but may also have detrimental effects on the mental health of its users. Using an online survey, we examined associations between social media use and mental health in a national sample of adults living in the United States (N = 1987; mean age 44.3 years, range 18 to 70 years). Compared to social media users (89.8%), non-users (10.2%) had lower rates of lifetime psychiatric diagnoses and current symptoms, but these associations were no longer statistically significant after adjusting for age and sex. Number of hours using social media per day and social media problem use (i.e., social media use associated with lack of control and negative emotions and consequences) had several medium to large associations with lifetime psychiatric diagnoses and current symptoms that were robust to adjustments for age and sex. Social media use was unrelated to subjective well-being. Social media problem use maintained strong associations with mental health problems after adjusting for time spent using social media, but the reverse was not the case. Like other rewarding activities that have addiction potential (e.g., drug use), social media use can be conceptualized as a continuum with a maladaptive extreme that is similar to other forms of psychopathology. Therefore, social media problem use rather than use per se should be the focus when investigating the link between social media use and mental health.