Digital Smarts - Is Stress in Contagious on Social Media?

According to a new Pew Research Center study, using online media (reading email on your phone, browsing Facebook, etc.) isn’t adding additional stress to your life. In fact, for women, using the internet and social media might actually lower stress. While frequent use of digital technology may not be the cause of stress, there are situations where it may increase the awareness of stressful events in the lives of others, and in turn, make you stressed. The study calls this “the cost of caring,” lending to the theory that stress is contagious.

While that may sound contradictory, researchers separate out the real world components. The physical act of using social media doesn’t appear to add to stress in a significant way, but the “social use” of digital technology, or its ability to connect you to other people’s problems, can result in stress. An exception to this finding occurs when negative events happen to mere acquaintances instead of friends and family. According to the study, when people are exposed to a negative life event in acquaintances’ lives, they seem to feel lower levels of stress. This isn’t to be confused with “schadenfreude,” or the pleasure derived from the misfortune of others. Instead, observing negativity far enough away in the digital sphere is actually a reminder that things could be much worse.