The impact of functional architecture dynamics in bipolar disorder staging.

Social media platforms are central features of contemporary social life, shaping how individuals communicate, seek support, and engage with broader social networks [,]. These environments can foster connection, belonging, and access to social support; all of which may support psychological well-being [–]. At the same time, social media platforms may also expose users to chronic psychosocial stressors, including social comparison, discrimination, harassment, and negative social evaluation [–]. These digitally mediated experiences may shape emotional well-being and stress-related processes, particularly when interactions are frequent, socially evaluative, or difficult to disengage from [–]. Indeed, emerging evidence links higher social media engagement with elevated perceived stress, sleep disturbance, and depressive symptomatology, all of which are intermediate risk factors for accelerated aging—that is, biological changes that outpace chronological age, reflecting faster physiological decline and increased vulnerability to age-related diseases and mortality [–]. However, it remains unclear whether social media use is associated with measurable indicators of biological aging, particularly among midlife and older adults. DNA methylation-based epigenetic aging biomarkers offer one approach for examining this question by capturing molecular signatures associated with aging-related physiological change [,]. In particular, DunedinPACE and GrimAge2 capture distinct dimensions of biological aging, with DunedinPACE reflecting the pace of biological aging and GrimAge2 capturing morbidity- and mortality-related methylation patterns [,]. Both behavioral and psychosocial pathways may contribute to associations between social media use and biological aging [,,]. Health behaviors such as substance use and sedentary activity, each associated with social media use, represent established correlates of stress and aging [,,]. Sedentary behavior, in particular, has been associated with metabolic dysregulation and chronic inflammation, both linked to epigenetic age acceleration [–]. In parallel, psychosocial processes linked to digital engagement, including hypervigilance, perceived social threat, and upward social comparison, may operate through overlapping stress-related neuroendocrine and inflammatory mechanisms [–]. Although these pathways are theoretically plausible, they remain understudied in relation to epigenetic aging, and most existing research on social media and health has focused on psychological or behavioral outcomes rather than molecular biomarkers [,].