Past articles have pointed out that stress can be traced to social media use. However, a new study conducted by the Pew Research Center's Internet Project, has revealed that there is no direct relationship or association between social media and stress.
The researchers added that the main reason why there is increased stress from social media use is the way they become aware of distressing events in the lives of others. The purpose of the research was to enlighten others about the use of social media, mobile phones and the internet and its effects on increased levels of stress.
The researchers collated data from phone surveys both in English and Spanish which included 2,013 adults. Some of the questions dealt with the measurement of stress in the lives of the participants using a standardized scale (Perceived Stress Scale). This scale is the most widely used psychological instrument for measuring the perception of stress. It can measure the perception of people on their lives if these are overloaded, unpredictable or uncontrollable.
There are several aspects and factors that make people feel stressed. For example, if there is uncertainty of being employed, some people would have increased feelings of stress. Some feel stressed when they have no friends, relationships and family members to accompany them and whom they would confide their problems with.
The study also revealed that regular internet and social media users do not have increased levels of stress. However, they discovered that women are more prone to stress while using social media due to increased awareness of stressful events in the lives of people they know. Also, the study says that stress is contagious so if your network bombards you with stressful events in their lives, you might feel that you are also stressed.
Aside from that, they found out that women are more into social media than men. However, simple social media use does not predispose people to stress. Overall, they concluded that the two are not really linked to each other.
"People who use social media, especially heavy users, were not more stressed," confirms Lee Rainie, director of Pew Internet research. "It's a well-known social phenomenon, when you're aware of bad things happening in other people's lives, particularly friends and family, that's a stressor for you, too," he added.