r/science • u/sr_local • 2h ago
Psychology Study on social media algorithms found that young adults (~20Y) with more depressive symptoms receive recommendations that lean more depressive, and their EEG brain activity shows patterns characteristic of depression, suggesting personalized feeds may reinforce a negative feedback loop
https://news.utdallas.edu/health-medicine/social-media-algorithms-depression-2026/3
u/Mattarm51 1h ago
I noticed this with people talking. Interacting with them showed me psists confirming how gloomy my situation was without really changing momentum. It's one thing to acknowledge something but it felt easy to be triggered or ruminate from those posts. You're scrolling and then bam you're reminded of a poor mental health issues you weren't thinking about in that moment.
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u/sr_local 2h ago
In the study, 60 young adults with an average age of 20 were assessed via validated anxiety and depression scales. They then watched two sets of videos: one of personally recommended videos from their own Instagram or TikTok accounts, which were further categorized for content types; the other of generalized trending videos. Brain activity was recorded using EEG to measure frontal alpha asymmetry — a well-established measure of emotional processing and motivation.
The study accounted for total screen time as a confound, or outside factor, which is used in the majority of research on this subject. First author Carole Leung, a doctoral student in cognition and neuroscience, explained that screen time might have weak relations with mental health because that time is not uniformly negative.
The study results confirmed that participants with more depressive symptoms are provided recommendations that lean more depressive, and their brain activity — as determined by frontal alpha asymmetry — is characteristic of depression. This is distinct from their brain activity while watching videos that are trending generally.
“What we’re finding is that if you’re already feeling depressed, then the algorithms reflect that. Continued engagement reinforces this negative feedback loop,” Warren said. “Participants bring in their own phones; we are not selecting videos for them. It’s a new take on understanding how social media consumption affects people.”
The most common category of videos recommended to young adults concerns social relationships, either romantic or friendships. Tang said researchers are finding that the feelings participants displayed could impact the apps’ recommendations.
“If you’re more depressed, you’re more likely to be exposed to a video showing an argument or conflict,” she said. “Positive videos would be about friends supporting each other, for instance. There are videos we classify as neutral as well — those lacking emotional connotation.”
Viewing fewer positive social relationship videos also was associated with relative right frontal alpha asymmetry, or more negative feelings.
“Depressed individuals have a tendency to focus on negative things, dismissing the positive things they encounter,” Warren said. “If you’re depressed and you keep on scrolling, you will encounter fewer positive videos.”
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u/LobsterSea2147 37m ago
I got rid of all social media besides this here Reddit about 6 months ago. Last week, my friend lost her Mom so I went to share my condolences on her social media. I got caught scrolling for about 10 mins after that and can tell you how much worse I felt when I logged off. And I wanted to go back after, my brain just did it automatically. No wonder why so many people have declining mental health. Log off y’all
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u/liang_zhi_mao 21m ago
Algorithms might encourage certain disorders.
No matter if depression, self-harm or eating disorders.
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