Over the years there have been numerous studies pointing to the apparently negative impact social media was having on mental wellbeing, especially among young people. Alas, recent research from the University of Oxford suggests that such fears might be overblown.

The researchers tapped into wellbeing data from around a million people from 72 countries over a 12-year period alongside Facebook usage data to gauge the impact the platform was having on wellbeing.

“Although reports of negative psychological outcomes associated with social media are common in academic and popular writing, evidence for harms is, on balance, more speculative than conclusive,” the researchers explain.

Minimal impact

The researchers suggest that many of the past studies have perhaps been skewed by an excessive focus on the global north or utilized self-reported levels of social media engagement, which may not have been accurate and reliable.

“In our new study, we cover the broadest possible geography for the first-time, analysing Facebook usage data overlaid with robust wellbeing data, giving a truly global perspective of the impact of Facebook use on wellbeing for the first time,” the authors explain.

The researchers also looked at how age and gender played a role. They found that, for both men and women, using Facebook was linked to feeling a bit better overall, but this difference wasn’t very big. Also, younger people seemed to benefit more from using Facebook in terms of feeling good. These findings were important, even though the effects were not very large.

This new study matches what Oxford experts found before when they looked into how technology affects mental health. They saw that using technology, like Facebook, didn’t make people feel worse as time went on.

“Our findings should help guide the debate surrounding social media towards more empirical research foundations,” the authors conclude. “We need more transparent collaborative research between independent scientists and the technology industry to better determine how, when and why modern online platforms might be affecting their users.”