SynthesisBMC public health2022
Social media use and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in young adults: a meta-analysis of 14 cross-sectional studies.
Synthesis in BMC public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 46 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
46 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Exploring the relationship between social media dependence and internet addiction among college students from a bibliometric perspective.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Social media use, online racism, and mental health among Black Emerging Adults in the United States.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
- Article
- Patterns of Short Video Use and Mental Health Among Adolescents: A Latent Profile Analysis.The Psychiatric quarterly · 2026Article
- Hyaluronidase Reverses the Effect of Hyaluronic Acid Without Destroying Normal Skin Structure.Journal of cosmetic dermatology · 2026Article
- The Negative Mental Health Consequences of Social Media Use in South Africa: The Role of Smartphone Addiction.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Political protests, social media use and mental well-being.Nature medicine · 2026Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on adults accessing specialist psychiatric care: A cross-sectional Canadian analysis.PloS one · 2026Article
- Type of information source and healthcare avoidance: insights from two population-based studies during the COVID-19 pandemic.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Social Media Detox and Youth Mental Health.JAMA network open · 2025Observational
- Exposure to fake news on social media, coping mechanisms, and mental health impact among Vietnamese adolescents and young adults.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Emerging Adult Resilience to the Early Stages of the COVID-Pandemic: A Systematic Scoping Review.Child psychiatry and human development · 2025Article
- High frequency and duration of social media exposure during the COVID- 19 pandemic are associated with mental health problems among employees at an Egyptian university.The Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association · 2025Article
- Effects of Social Media Use on Youth and Adolescent Mental Health: A Scoping Review of Reviews.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Evaluation of a Canadian social media platform for communicating perinatal health information during a pandemic.PLOS digital health · 2025Article
- Differences in sensationalism in international news media reporting of COVID-19: An exploratory analysis using the Global Public Health Intelligence Network (GPHIN) system.Canada communicable disease report = Releve des maladies transmissibles au Canada · 2025Article
- The relationship between physical activity and social anxiety in adolescents: a cross-lagged study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Intrinsic social media literacy: a public relations strategy addressing problematic social media use among teenagers globally.Cogent social sciences · 2025Review
- Genetic predisposition to digital device use and the risk of five psychiatric disorders.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- The Impact of Different Types of Social Media Use on the Mental Health of UK Adults: Longitudinal Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPublic isolated due to the early quarantine regarding coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) increasingly used more social media platforms. Contradictory claims regarding the effect of social media use on mental health needs to be resolved. The purpose of the study was to summarise the association between the time spent on social media platform during the COVID-19 quarantine and mental health outcomes (i.e., anxiety and depression).
methodsStudies were screened from the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases. Regarding eligibility criteria, studies conducted after the declaration of the pandemic, studies that measured mental health symptoms with validated tools, and studies that presented quantitative results were eligible. The studies after retrieval evaluated the association between time spent on social media platform and mental health outcomes (i.e. anxiety and depression). The pooled estimates of retrieved studies were summarised in odds ratios (ORs). Data analyses included a random-effect model and an assessment of inter-study heterogeneity. Quality assessment was conducted by two independent researchers using the Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for Nonrandomized Studies (RoBANS). This meta-analysis review was registered in PROSPERO ( https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/ , registration No CRD42021260223, 15 June 2021).
resultsFourteen studies were included. The increase in the time spent using social media platforms were associated with anxiety symptoms in overall studies (pooled OR = 1.55, 95% CI: 1.30-1.85), and the heterogeneity between studies was mild (I
conclusionsThe analysis demonstrated that the excessive time spent on social media platform was associated with a greater likelihood of having symptoms of anxiety and depression.
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