(PS5-73) Exploring Unique, Bidirectional Effects of Digital Media and Depressed Mood in Adolescents

Abstract Text: Adolescents’ screen time has drawn concerns about potential effects on mental health; however, the current research is far from a consensus on whether screen time is beneficial, harmful or has no effect on teens’ mental health. It is also unclear whether different types of applications may have unique effects on teens' mood.

Using smartphone sensing to capture objective patterns of media use, the current study examined whether social media use uniquely influenced depressed mood and whether depressed mood impacts teens’ social media use, in contrast to other forms of digital media use. Participants (N = 19; 13-18 years old) allowed an application (AWARE) to passively monitor phone use and answered twice-daily surveys on mood and social media use for 30 days. Behavioral features of digital media use (social media, streaming, social gaming) were extracted to reflect daily levels for each type. Bidirectional multilevel models of daily digital media use and depressed mood were analyzed on the same and next day.

At the same-day level, lower levels of depressed mood were associated with more time on social gaming applications (b = -0.04, p = 0.04) and vice versa (b = -0.24, p = 0.04), as well as checking of social gaming applications (b = -0.07, p = 0.03) and vice versa (b = -0.17, p = 0.03). Higher levels of depressed mood were associated with spending more time on streaming (b = 0.11, p = 0.02) and vice versa (b = 0.12, p = 0.02). Lagged analyses showed that time spent on social gaming also predicted less depressed mood next day (b = -0.30, p = 0.04). There were no effects for social media use or any other bidirectional associations of depressed mood predicting next-day media use.

Findings indicate that the relationship between screen time and mental health depends on the content adolescents are engaging with, and that social gaming may benefit mental health in contrast to streaming. This study underscores the need for further research exploring social media and mental health, considering no effect was found, and other areas of digital media use to best support healthy media use and adolescent mental health.