Though social media has such a large impact on today's society, the relationship between mental health and use of social networking sites is still unknown

In the past decade, social media has played a large role in almost every human beings life, so much that some people are even becoming addicted to it. Though still a controversial subject, studies show that this new internet addiction can be causing depressive symptoms in many people.

Before there were social networks such as Facebook and Twitter, the Internet still had an affect on its users. 

In a study conducted in Kraut et al. in the late 1990s, he proved through that Internet use affected the way that people communicated. Although the Internet was just becoming widely popular and social networking sites had not yet been thought of, he showed that social relationships and participation in community life were negatively affected by excessive Internet use. The people that spent more time on the Internet spent less time with their families and friends, which fostered depressive symptoms within them. Because of this study, many believed that computer use would even have negative effects on children’s social development. The creation of social networking sites would only broaden this situation.

Social networking sites may prove to cause depressive symptoms in its users. 

When social networking sites were created, children and teenagers were spending more and more time on the Internet. Some people might even say that people were, and still are, becoming addicted to the internet. Besides changing the amount of time spent on the Internet, social networking sites also affected the way the human beings interacted. Some studies show that this change in Internet use caused depressive symptoms and feelings of loneliness in the participants. These results can be for many reasons. For one, Facebook use is linked to participants’ impression that other users are happier. This can easily cause feelings of being left out which can manifest itself into depression. Another possible reason is that spending more time on social media can cause people to spend less socializing in real time, causing people to cut ties and inevitably causing the feeling of loneliness. Overall through many studies, people believe that social networking sites can cause a decline in mental health.

On the other hand, in some cases social media has also decreased depressive symptoms in its users.

Though many studies show that Internet use can increase depressive feelings in its participants, these results are still not completely conclusive. Some believe that the use of social media can actually reduce depression. In another study produced by Kraut et al., these results showed that online communication through social networking sites allowed the participants to strengthen and maintain social ties with family members and close friends. The people felt that they had a closer connection with their Facebook friends, which created closer relationships in reality too. This social support actually benefited mental health.

Because social networking sites are relatively new, experiment results are still questionable. 

Hundreds of studies have been created in order to discover the relationship between social media and mental health but still, more studies need to be produced in order to truly prove this relationship. The difficulty with this is that correlation does not mean causation; it is nearly impossible to conclude which variable is the cause and which is the effect. Though many believe that social media fosters depression, it could just as well be that people with depressive symptoms are attracted to social networking. Regardless, social networking has caused a great impact on today’s society and with more research to come, soon the true relationship will be revealed.