{"id":2820,"date":"2023-06-02T12:11:54","date_gmt":"2023-06-02T16:11:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/?p=2820"},"modified":"2023-06-02T12:11:54","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T16:11:54","slug":"study-indicates-that-binging-youtube-videos-can-lead-to-depression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2023\/06\/study-indicates-that-binging-youtube-videos-can-lead-to-depression.html","title":{"rendered":"Study Indicates That Binging YouTube Videos Can Lead to Depression"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_2823\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2823\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-2823\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/410\/2023\/06\/watching-youtube-depression2-credit-pexels-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"youtube\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-2823\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pexels.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Since launching in 2005, YouTube has changed how people watch videos online. There\u2019s no denying YouTube\u2019s convenience, offering users endless content on virtually any topic. However, researchers from Griffith University suggest spending too much time on YouTube can damage mental health. A team from the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention reports that habitual YouTube users show higher levels of anxiety, loneliness, and depression.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.griffith.edu.au\/2023\/05\/15\/impacts-of-youtube-on-loneliness-and-mental-health\/\">Dr. Luke Balcombe<\/a> from Griffith University\u2019s School of Applied Psychology hoped to understand the negative and positive mental health implications linked with the world\u2019s busiest streaming platform. Remarkably, people experiencing the most damaging effects were people under 29 years old and those regularly watching content about other people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n<p>He explained that encouraging parasocial relationships between followers and content creators may cause concern. However, there were a few positive or neutral instances where creators developed closer relationships with their followers. In a university release, Dr. Balcombe said, \u201cThese \u2018online relationships\u2019\u00a0can fill a gap for people who, for example, have social anxiety. However, it can exacerbate their issues when they don\u2019t engage in face-to-face interactions, which are especially important in developmental years. We recommend individuals limit their time on YouTube\u00a0and seek other forms of social interaction to combat loneliness and promote positive mental health.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Study authors add that many parents are especially concerned about how much their kids spend on YouTube. It\u2019s common for moms and dads to say it\u2019s tough to constantly monitor their children\u2019s\u00a0use of the platform\u00a0for educational or other purposes.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cH_NVkaTcqQ\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>During this study, the team considered spending over two hours daily on YouTube as \u201chigh-frequency use\u201d and over five hours daily as \u201csaturated use.\u201d Researchers also concluded much more needs to be done to prevent suicide-related content from being recommended to users via suggested viewing algorithms. YouTube\u2019s algorithm offers videos based on previous searches, potentially sending users further down a\u00a0disturbing \u201crabbit hole.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While users can report this type of content, it often goes unreported. Conversely, if a harmful video remains online for just a few days or weeks due to the sheer volume of content passing through, it is usually near impossible for YouTube\u2019s algorithms to stop all of it. If a piece of content is flagged as potentially promoting self-harm or suicide, YouTube generates a warning and asks users if they want to continue watching the video.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Balcombe continued, \u201cWith vulnerable children and adolescents who engage in high-frequency use, there could be value in monitoring and intervention through\u00a0artificial intelligence. We\u2019ve explored human\u2013computer interaction issues and proposed a concept for an independent-of-YouTube algorithmic recommendation system which will steer users toward verified positive mental health content or promotions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He added, \u201cYouTube is increasingly used for mental health purposes, mainly for information seeking or sharing, and many digital mental health approaches are being tried with varying levels of merit, but with over 10,000\u00a0mental health apps\u00a0currently available, it can be overwhelming knowing which ones to use, or even which ones to recommend from a practitioner point of view.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since launching in 2005, YouTube has changed how people watch videos online. There\u2019s no denying YouTube\u2019s convenience, offering users endless content on virtually any topic. However, researchers from Griffith University suggest spending too much time on YouTube can damage mental health. A team from the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention reports that habitual&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":2823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2,69],"tags":[112,22,149],"class_list":["post-2820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-depression","category-mental-health","category-study","tag-depression","tag-loneliness","tag-new-study"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Study Indicates That Binging YouTube Videos Can Lead to Depression<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"According to a new study, binging YouTube videos can lead to depression and loneliness in adults. It can also negatively affect children.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Study Indicates That Binging YouTube Videos Can Lead to Depression\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to a new study, binging YouTube videos can lead to depression and loneliness in adults. It can also negatively affect children.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/dailycupofwellness\/2023\/06\/study-indicates-that-binging-youtube-videos-can-lead-to-depression.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daily Cup of Wellness\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-02T16:11:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/410\/2023\/06\/watching-youtube-depression2-credit-pexels-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"576\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lauren McKeithen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Study Indicates That Binging YouTube Videos Can Lead to Depression","description":"According to a new study, binging YouTube videos can lead to depression and loneliness in adults. 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