As is usual since the Internet became a mass communication tool, from time to time studies begin to appear that try to relate the use of this medium with the development of diseases, especially those with an eminently psychological aspect. As happened in its day with the different types of chat, now the time has come for Facebook. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), in a report issued just a few weeks ago, talks about the propensity of young people to develop psychological problems due to an alleged excessive use of social networks during a key stage in their growth.
Real influence of social networks in the development of depression
- The researchers who have carried out this study speak of the generation of a new clinical terminology, using the formula ‘ Facebook Depression ‘ despite the fact that it is by no means a widespread phenomenon. In fact, many pediatric specialists speak of the benefits of these social networks since young people maintain active contact both with their friends and with their closest community. However, the research prefers to focus its conclusions on the most isolated cases, asserting that this group is currently at risk of social isolation and may also develop serious self-esteem problems.
- The stigmatization of social networks, as we have seen, is not new since studies like the one published by the AAP reduce their use to a mere aesthetic concept. They elude the great capacity of media such as Facebook to put people in contact, whatever the distance that separates them. Something that can bring many particular benefits to each and every one of its users.
- There are researchers who contradict the conclusions reached by the AAP and affirm that social networks such as Facebook can not only improve the perception of social connection among perfectly healthy young people but can also have the opposite effect on those who are prone to suffering from a pathology such as depression. Facebook, like the rest of the social networks, is a space for social interaction that by itself proves incapable of generating any disease on the user.