Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp were no help in preventing anxiety and depression during the pandemic, according to a new study. Researchers found that keeping in touch via video, phone or instant messaging did little to stop an increase in stress levels during the Covid lockdowns.
Many young adults who increased their use of video and messaging with friends and family who they couldn’t see face-to-face actually experienced a deterioration in their mental health, according to the findings. Dr Patrick Rouxel and Professor Tarani Chandola, of the University of Hong Kong, analysed data of more than 16,000 British people’s internet use, mental health and social isolation from four surveys conducted during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021.
They found that people who used video or phones every day to keep in touch with friends and family outside their own household were only three per cent lower on a scale for anxiety and depression than those who never did. People who used internet messaging services such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp every day during the lockdowns had an anxiety-depression score the same as those who never used them.
