ReadWrite – Study Links Multiple Media Usage To Depression And Anxiety

A report published this week by Michigan State University's psychology department found evidence that using multiple forms of media at the same time is linked to symptoms of anxiety and depression. The study was conducted with data from two surveys of 319 undergraduate students, a group that engages in a lot of media multi-tasking.

One study measured symptoms of depression and anxiety, the other how the subjects engage in media multitasking, (i.e. video games, texting, apps)  to give researchers an idea of whether a subject was a high, low or medium media multi-tasker. It's important to note that the surveys measured indicators of depression and anxiety, but didn't serve as a clinical diagnosis. 

Participants with high levels of media multitasking were put into one group, those with lower levels in another. The latter group had a median score of 3.66 out 9 on a scale of depressive symptoms. The higher level group? 6.19 out of 9. The study also found that those in the higher range scored a higher median number for indicators of social phobia symptoms.