The pressure to respond immediately to texts or posts is causing teenagers to become more anxious and depressed, Scottish researchers have found, blaming this on the 24-hour demands of their social media accounts. 
Glasgow University researchers found that those with higher levels of emotional investment in social media, and who use it at night, were more likely to feel depressed and anxious, the BBC reported.
The researchers questioned 467 teenagers about their use of social media and state of mind and found that many felt a pressure to respond immediately to texts or posts.
Teenagers were asked how and when they used socials media and their sleep quality, self-esteem, anxiety, depression and emotional investment in social media were also measured.
Lead researcher Dr Heather Cleland Woods said this related to the pressure to be available 24/7 and any anxiety around, for example, not responding immediately to texts or posts.
Dr Cleland Woods said: “Adolescence can be a period of increased vulnerability for the onset of depression and anxiety, and poor sleep quality may contribute to this.
“It is important that we understand how social media use relates to these. Evidence is increasingly supporting a link between social-media use and wellbeing, particularly during adolescence, but the causes of this are unclear.”
The National Council for Hypnotherapy (NCH) has hypnotherapists around the UK who are qualified in helping teens cope with anxiety and stress – and this can be done without resorting to medication.
“People can suffer from a wide variety of distressing feelings such as panic attacks, anxiety, jealousy, guilt, anger or inadequacy. Whatever the problem feeling, hypnotherapy can deal with it more specifically than medication – and without harmful side effects,” says the NCH.
Sessions with a hypnotherapist will allow the therapist to assess the level of anxiety the client has and its cause. Once this is done, they will work with the client to relieve this anxiety, using a range of different techniques.
After sessions with a hypnotherapist the client usually feels relaxed and more confident, often with a higher level of calmness and more clarity of thought.
Dr Cleland Woods said: “While overall social-media use impacts on sleep quality, those who log on at night appear to be particularly affected. This may be mostly true of individuals who are highly emotionally invested. This means we have to think about how our kids use social media, in relation to time for switching off.”
The NCH agrees that disrupted sleep can lead to anxiety and generally a poorer performance at school too.
If you are ‘addicted’ to social media, or know a teenager who is, contact an NCH therapist near you by using the council’s directory. It can make a world of difference.