There are plenty of studies out there indicating that using social media too much isn’t actually the best way to spend your time, and we can’t ignore them. Unfortunately, some researchers even raise the alarm for serious issues that could be affecting a person’s mental health if scrolling through social media becomes an addiction.
According to a new study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, researchers have discovered that teenagers who are addicted to TikTok, one of the top social networks out there, have higher chances of dealing with increased depression and anxiety. Furthermore, the same teenagers performed worse when it came to recalling number sequences.
Smartphone usage can weaken working memory
It’s not a secret to anyone that teenagers are becoming more and more addicted to smartphones and social media. Therefore, study authors Peng Sha and Xiaoyu Dong had been considering the effects of such addiction on a person’s life. They consider that the new findings suggest that smartphone usage can weaken working memory.
Over 3000 active TikTok users were surveyed for the new study. They were in the first and second years of senior high school. The level of memory loss was measured with the help of a forward and backward digit span test. SEM was established, meaning structural equation modeling. As for the analysis, SPSS Amos was used.
The results of the study aren’t encouraging at all. There’s a partial mediation effect of anxiety and depression between the disorder caused by TikTok usage and forward digit span. There has also been shown a partial mediation effect of depression, stress, and anxiety between TikTok usage disorder and backward digit span.
We’re eagerly waiting to read your own thoughts on the subject! TikTok, as well as other social media apps, are heavily used across the world. This means that each and every one of us uses social media or at least knows somebody who does.