Young people’s moods are directly affected by ‘likes’ on social media, study finds

Young people are more sensitive to social media feedback such as “likes” than adults, and this directly affects their mood, a new study has found.

The study, carried out by a research team at the University of Amsterdam and published in Science Advances, has used real social media data to investigate the topic.

First, the researchers looked at a large dataset of real-life Instagram posts, and used a computational model to capture users’ sensitivity to likes, which showed that adolescents were more sensitive to social feedback than adults. The researchers note that “the social media engagement of adolescents is more strongly driven by their sensitivity to social media feedback and not just their dexterity in posting as digital natives” and that “adolescents will engage more strongly with social media platforms if they receive many likes, but at the same time, they will also disengage more quickly when the likes are not forthcoming.”

Secondly, they carried out an experimental study, which mimicked the features of social media platforms and could be used to track changes in mood. This showed that adolescents’ mood was affected more strongly by a reduction in likes than adults. “This effect was independent of their self-reported problematic social media behavior or levels of social anxiety,” the researchers write.

Finally, they undertook an exploratory neuroimaging study to look at brain changes,, and found that sensitivity to social media feedback is related to individual differences in amygdala volume, describing the amygdala as a  “key region that is related to individual differences in sensitivity to likes, social anxiety, and problematic social media use.” The researchers sound a note of caution, however: “While our results suggest that the amygdala is involved in these processes, it is important to note that this does not imply direct causation, and these processes were also associated with distinct networks of regions.”

Social media platforms encouraged to change incentive structures

Wouter van den Bos, a member of the research team, said: “Adolescence is a developmental period during which both reward and rejection sensitivity are particularly strong, and these have, respectively, been linked to increased impulsive behaviour and depressive symptoms.”

The research suggests that adolescents’ heightened sensitivity means that receiving likes generates a feeling of connectedness and can enhance young people’s mood, but at the same time the desire for likes and approval could lead to problematic overuse.

The first author on the study, Ana da Silva Pinho, said: “While social media plays an important role in fostering some aspects of youth development, such as identity formation and social connection, our study reveals that it may also present challenges, particularly relating to young people’s moods. Given the growing concerns about the impact of social media on mental health, it is crucial that we further understand how young people engage with and respond to social media, while also addressing the unique aspects of their developmental stages.”

The researchers have proposed that social media platforms should change incentive structures, shifting the emphasis away from likes and towards more meaningful engagement. They also suggest that we should not only focus on strengthening the digital literacy of young people, since they probably know more about this topic than any other generation, but instead focus on developing skilful emotion regulation in online environments.

“Social media-generated emotions can occur frequently, at any time, and even unnoticeable to others,” they write. “An approach addressing emotion regulation skills online may be crucial for youth to deal with the constant variation of feedback they are exposed to on social media.”