Social Media Might Not Be Rotting Our Brains as Much as We Think, Twin Study Finds

A new study this week may complicate the narrative about social media’s supposed effects on our mental health. It only showed a small association between social media use and poor well-being, an association that is likely partly explained by our genes.

Researchers in the Netherlands examined data on thousands of twins. They found small associations between greater social media use and poorer mental health, but also that these associations are often influenced by shared genetic factors. Researchers say the findings suggest that social media may not be as universally harmful to our mental health as is commonly believed.

“Our research helps move the conversation away from simplistic claims that social media is either good or bad for everyone,” lead author Selim Samitoglu, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, said in a statement from the institute. “We have shown that the effects are modest and, importantly, are at least partly shaped by individual genetic differences.”

Twin search clarity

Twins are of great value in science. Because they are often genetically and environmentally similar, it is easier for scientists to isolate the effects of human genes on a particular health trait, condition, or outcome. If identical twins are more similar to each other in a certain way than fraternal twins, for example, their genes are likely a big reason for that similarity.

In this new study, researchers analyzed data from the Dutch Twin Registry, a long-term project that tracks the mental and physical health of twins born in the region. As part of the project, the twins and their families are asked different questions about their lives, including how often they use social media.

In all, they studied more than 6,000 twins, both identical and fraternal. For social media use, they counted time spent browsing and posting on popular platforms like Facebook and Snapchat, outside of related activities like playing video games. They also tracked various measures of well-being, including whether people reported symptoms of anxiety and depression.

As with previous research on this topic, they found modest links between increased social media use and negative well-being outcomes. But upon closer examination, a person’s genes appear to play a large role in driving this association. For example, people who are genetically inclined to spend more time on social media may be genetically more likely to experience poorer mental health as a result of that time. The researchers estimated that genetics alone could account for 72% of the variance in how often people use social media.

Notably, they also found that people in better health tended to browse a wider range of social media platforms, while people in better health tended to post more frequently across a smaller range of social media sites. While most of the potential associations were somewhat negative or nonexistent, the researchers found that higher social media use was associated with a greater sense of flourishing in their life (someone who feels flourishing might say they are very engaged and interested in their daily activities, for example).

The team’s findings were published earlier in June in the journal Behavior Genetics.

What should you think about your time on social media?

The authors say their work should add more nuance to the discussion about the alleged harms of social media, and they also argue that broad measures to limit social media use could be counterproductive in themselves.

“We should not allow headlines like ‘social media is toxic’ to distract us from what really matters: each person’s unique background and current life situation,” Samitoglu said. “Simply blaming social media use, or restricting access to platforms, will not solve our wellbeing and mental health challenges. Instead, we need to focus on the individual – because genetics, context and support all matter.”

Personally, I find that a little moderation, like most things in life, goes a long way. So, while it’s nice to know that the time I spend on Reddit probably isn’t messing with my brain (too much), I’ll still take regular breaks from scrolling to death the same way.