Social media does not elicit a physiological stress response as measured by heart rate and salivary cortisol over 20-minute sessions of cell phone use.

ABSTRACT: The pervasive use of social media has raised concerns about its potential detrimental effects on physical and mental health. Others have demonstrated a relationship between social media use and anxiety, depression, and psychosocial stress. In light of these studies, we examined physiological indicators of stress (heart rate to measure autonomic nervous system activation and cortisol to assess activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) associated with social media use and investigated possible moderating influences of sex, age, and psychological parameters. We collected physiological data from 59 subjects ranging in age from 13 to 55 across two cell phone treatments: social media use and a pre-selected YouTube playlist. Heart rate was measured using arm-band heart rate monitors be

SUBMITTER: Oppenheimer S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10990243 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature