Research and Development News

Heavy Internet Users More Likely to Suffer Depression

By: Donna Gundle-Krieg | Friday 19 February 2010 22:30 PDT

People who spend a lot of time on the Internet are likely to suffer from depression, according to a recent study by psychologists at the University of Leeds in Britain.

This study found that depression symptoms of heavy Internet users were stronger than signs of depression among those who use the Internet moderately.

This depression may be due to the fact that heavy Internet users often replace real social interaction with online socializing, including chat rooms and social networking sites such as Facebook.

However, researchers concede that they don't know whether the Internet causes depression, or whether people suffering from depression are more drawn to the Internet.

In other words, those heavy Internet users who show signs of depression could have mental health issues that cause them to become addicted to the Internet.

How Did the Study Show that Heavy Internet Usage is Related to Depression?
The researchers evaluated Internet use and depression symptoms of 1,319 people ages 16 to 51. Eighteen of the people in the study, or 1.2 percent, were considered to be heavy Internet users, or addicted to the Internet.

These 18 heavy Internet users were considered to have moderate or severe depression when compared with 18 similar people who were not addicted to the Internet.

Young people are more likely to become Internet addicted than middle-aged users, as the average age of the heavy Internet users in the study was 21.

Normal internet users pay bills, write emails, shop, or do research on the internet, and do not show signs of depression due to their internet use.

On the other hand, heavy internet users spend abnormal amounts of time socializing in online communities. They also play online games for hours at a time, or spend time on pornographic websites.

This research was published in the February 10th issue of the Journal Psychopathology. It was the first large-scale study of its kind in the West to look at the affects of internet use on depression.