Problematic Social Media Use in Adolescents and Young Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Technology is ever evolving, with more and more diverse activities becoming possible on screen-based devices. However, participating in a heavy screen-based lifestyle may come at a cost. Our hypothesis was that problematic social media use increased the prevalence of mental health outcomes. Objective: This study seeks to systematically examine problematic social media use in youth and its association with symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress. Methods: A systematic search was conducted to identify studies in adolescents and young adults, using the databases Engineering Village, Psycinfo, Pubmed, and Web of Science. A total of 18 studies were identified, with a total of 9269 participants in our review and included in the meta-analysis. Results: Our metaregression shows moderate but statistically significant correlations between problematic social media use and depression (r=0.273, P