{"id":19407,"date":"2016-12-09T15:32:54","date_gmt":"2016-12-09T20:32:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/?p=19407"},"modified":"2016-12-09T15:34:13","modified_gmt":"2016-12-09T20:34:13","slug":"how-to-avoid-feeling-depressed-on-facebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/2016\/12\/how-to-avoid-feeling-depressed-on-facebook\/","title":{"rendered":"How to avoid feeling depressed on Facebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the\u00a0Lancaster University\u00a0media release:<\/p>\n

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\"ComputerComparing yourself with others on Facebook is more likely to lead to feelings of depression than making social comparisons offline<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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That’s one of the findings from a review of all the research on the links between social networking and depression by David Baker and Dr Guillermo Perez Algorta from Lancaster University.<\/p>\n

They examined studies from 14 countries with 35,000 participants aged between 15 and 88<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

There are among 1.8 billion people on online social networking sites worldwide, with Facebook alone having more than 1 billion active users.<\/p>\n

Concerns over the effect on mental health led the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2011 to define “Facebook depression” as a “depression that develops when preteens and teens spend a great deal of time on social media sites, such as Facebook, and then begin to exhibit classic symptoms of depression<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

The Lancaster University review of existing research found that the relationship between online social networking and depression may be very complex and associated with factors like age and gender<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In cases where there is a significant association with depression, this is because comparing yourself with others can lead to “rumination” or overthinking.<\/p>\n