Social Media Might Not Be Rotting Our Brains as Much as We Think, Twin Study Finds

A new study out this week might complicate the narrative over social media’s supposed draining effects on our mental health. It showed only a small correlation between social media use and poorer well-being—one that’s likely explained in part by our genes.

Researchers in the Netherlands examined data from thousands of twins. They found small associations between using social media more and having worse mental health, but also that these associations were often influenced by shared genetic factors. The findings suggest that social media may not be as universally harmful to our psychological well-being as commonly believed, the researchers say.

“Our research helps move the conversation away from simplistic claims that social media is either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for everyone,” said lead author Selim Sametoglu, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, in a statement from the institute. “We show that the effects are modest, and more importantly, at least partly shaped by individual genetic differences.”

The clarity of twin research

Twins are very valuable in science. Since they’re so genetically and often environmentally alike, it makes it easier for scientists to isolate the effects of people’s genetics on a specific trait, condition, or health outcome. If identical twins are more similar to each other in a particular way than are fraternal twins or siblings, for instance, then their genes are likely a big reason for that similarity.

In this new study, the researchers analyzed data from the Netherlands Twin Register, a long-running project keeping track of the mental and physical health of twins born in the area. As part of the project, twins and their families are asked various questions about their lives, including how often they use social media.

All told, they studied more than 6,000 twins, both identical and fraternal. For social media use, they counted the time spent browsing and posting on popular platforms like Facebook and Snapchat, outside of related activities like playing video games. They also tracked various measures of well-being, including whether people reported having anxiety and depression symptoms.

As with previous research on the topic, they found modest links between increased social media use and negative outcomes related to well-being. But upon closer inspection, a person’s genes seemed to play a big part in driving this link. People genetically inclined to spend more time on social media, for instance, might also be more genetically inclined to experience poorer mental health as a result of that time. The researchers estimated that genetics alone could account for 72% of the variation in how often people used social media.

Notably, they also found people with better well-being tended to browse a greater variety of social media platforms, whereas people with worse well-being tended to post more frequently across a smaller group of social media sites. And while most potential associations were mildly negative or non-existent, the researchers did find that higher social media use was associated with a greater sense of flourishing in their lives (someone feeling flourished might report being highly engaged and interested in their daily activities, as an example).

The team’s findings were published earlier this June in the journal Behavior Genetics.

What to think about your social media time

The authors say their work should add more nuance to the discussion over the purported harms of social media, and they further argue that broad actions to curtail social media use could be counterproductive in their own right.

“We shouldn’t let headlines like ‘social media is toxic’ distract us from what really matters: each person’s unique background and current state of life. Simply blaming social media use, or restricting access to platforms, won’t solve our well-being and mental health challenges. Instead, we need to focus on the individual—because genes, context, and support all matter,” Sametoglu said.

Personally, I’m of the mind that, like most things in life, a little moderation goes a long way. So while it’s good to know that my time on Reddit probably isn’t rotting my brain (too much), I’m still going to take regular breaks from doom-scrolling just the same.