Global Study Finds No Link Between Facebook Use and Poor Mental Health

Contrary to previous analyses and popular beliefs, the largest independent scientific study on the subject has found no evidence to support the notion that the increased usage of Facebook has resulted in widespread psychological damage. This study, conducted on Wednesday, challenges the prevailing perception surrounding the negative impact of Facebook on mental well-being.

A study by Oxford University’s Internet Institute, which analyzed data from nearly a million people in 72 countries over 12 years, instead found “positive correlations” between social media platform adoption and so-called indicators of well-being.

The researchers combined well-being data collected by Gallup with Facebook’s own global membership statistics to assess how engagement with the site was related to three indicators: life satisfaction and negative and positive psychological experiences.

Facebook provided the data, which was checked for accuracy by its researchers, but did not commission, fund or influence the design of the study or have prior knowledge of the results, according to the Oxford team.

Their article also underwent peer review in the Royal Society Open Science journal.

Andrew Przybylski, professor of human behavior and technology at the University of Oxford, said they “carefully looked at the best available data – and found that they did not support the idea that Facebook membership is associated with harm”.

“On the contrary,” he added. “In fact, our analysis shows that Facebook is potentially associated with positive well-being.

But Przybylski also noted that “this doesn’t mean that this is proof that Facebook is good for users’ well-being.”

The researchers of the project, which started before the Covid pandemic, worked for more than two years to protect key data from Facebook, which currently has almost three billion users worldwide.

However, the team focused on the international penetration of the platform between 2008 and 2019, and combined it with the well-being responses of 946,798 people during the same period as part of Gallup’s World Poll Survey.

Research assistant and study co-author Matti Vuorre said the approach was unprecedented in social media analysis and the results “should help guide the discussion about social media towards a more empirical research foundation.”

They differ from previous studies, including two separate academic analyzes last year that found Facebook had a negative impact on the mental health of US students, as well as lawsuits in the US.

Ex-Facebook engineer Frances Haugen leaked more than 20,000 pages of internal documents in 2021 suggesting the company put profits ahead of safety, prompting renewed US calls for regulation.

Nearly 200 US school districts have since joined a lawsuit against major tech companies for allegedly causing emotional harm, depression and anxiety among students.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has denied the allegations, with founder Mark Zuckerberg alleging “a coordinated effort to selectively use leaked documents to paint a false picture.”