Exploring reactivity to EMA and consumer-grade wearable measurement of physical activity among individuals with binge-eating spectrum disorders.

The recent global expansion of social media use (SMU) has raised concerns about its impact on mental health, particularly among adolescents. Nearly half (46%) of U.S. teens say they are online "almost constantly," up from 24% in 2014 . Most 13- to 17-year-olds report high daily use for YouTube (73% daily; 15% almost constantly), TikTok (57% daily; 16% almost constantly), Instagram (50% daily; 12% almost constantly), and Snapchat (48% daily; 13% almost constantly . Additionally, adolescents’ mental health is deteriorating at an alarming rate: from 2011 to 2021, major depressive episodes more than doubled , and mental health–related emergency department visits surged by 56% in the U.S. . Previous work has generally shown that heavy SMU is associated with psychological distress and depression , , , , , . However, the way people use social media differs. As a result, researchers have also focused on whether consumption is active (e.g., interacting with others via posting updates, sharing links, commenting on others’ content, sending direct messages) or passive (e.g., scrolling through feeds, reading comments, or discussions). Research on the active-passive dichotomy has found that passive SMU is significantly associated with increased depressive symptoms and low well-being, while active SMU has either no significant association or a negative association with depression and/or low well-being , , , . Studies suggest that passive SMU may lead to decreased subjective well-being by inducing envy as well as upward social comparison , , , while active SMU may lead to increased subjective well-being by enabling social support and connection , . Thorisdottir et al . found that passive SMU was linked to increased symptoms of anxiety and depressed mood among adolescents, while active SMU was associated with a reduction in these symptoms, even after controlling for total time spent on social media. When young adults were randomly assigned to use Facebook either actively or passively, those who engaged passively experienced decreases in affective well-being over time . This association held after controlling for active Facebook use, other social networking site use, and direct social interactions, and was driven by passive social media use leading to increased envy. Another study found that individuals who used social media more actively reported lower depression scores while those who used social media more passively reported higher depression scores .