Your Devices -- iPhone, Laptop, TV -- Are Making You Depressed
A recent Nielsen report found that about a third of us tweet while watching TV.
Well, you might want to stop that.
According to Michigan State University assistant psychology professor Mark Becker, multitasking with modern media is bad for your mental health.
It might be making you depressed:
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Becker conducted a study that concluded multitasking with different media -- using a laptop while watching TV, for example -- leads to symptoms of anxiety and depression.
The prof's team looked at 319 subjects and recently published its findings in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking.
Researchers measured hours spent on television, music, mobile phones, texting, computer use, gaming, web surfing and more.
That has led to a clear correlation between things like using Facebook and watching YouTube, tweeting and tuning into TV, with "mental health problems," says the school.
While overall media use is up 20 percent in the last decade, multitasking is up 120 percent, the Michigan State researchers say.
We don't know whether the media multitasking is causing symptoms of depression and social anxiety, or if it's that people who are depressed and anxious are turning to media multitasking as a form of distraction from their problems.
(Scratches chin). Hmm, says the writer working on this blog post, watching TV and using Twitter at the same time.
"Whatever the case, it's very important information to have," Becker says.