India, May 23 -- A study from UC San Francisco found that preteens who spent more time on social media showed more signs of depression over time.
The research, led by Dr. Jason Nagata of UCSF's Department of Pediatrics and funded by the National Institutes of Health, was published in JAMA Network Open.
Researchers followed nearly 12,000 children, starting at ages 9 to 10 and checking in again when they were 12 to 13. They noticed that kids who used screens more often were more likely to develop symptoms of depression later, but kids who were already showing signs of depression didn't go on to use social media more.
During the study period, the average time kids spent on social media each day jumped from 7 minutes to 73 minutes. At the sa...