Date of Award

5-2025

Document Type

Project

Degree Name

Master of Social Work

Department

School of Social Work

First Reader/Committee Chair

Armando Barragán

Abstract

As technology continues to advance and grow, society has seen a surge in popularity of various social media sites. Social media has become increasingly popular among young adults, with some spending over 10 hours each day on social media. Social media can be utilized for community building, fostering relationships, providing safe spaces, inspiration, creative expression, and may even provide users with acceptance, validation, and a sense of belonging. Considering these factors, social media may also affect individuals negatively— specifically mental health-wise, in terms of anxiety and depression. This study aimed to identify whether a correlation exists between time spent on social media and anxiety and/or depression levels, as well as distinguish a correlation between type of user, passive user or active user, and anxiety and/or depression levels. Results showed no significant influence of both type of user and hours of use on participants’ anxiety and depression levels. Future studies may conduct a longitudinal qualitative study to achieve in-depth and causal results, as well as include the context of social media content, users’ life factors affecting mental health outside of the internet, and mental health history.

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