Social media is indeed anxiety-inducing, study finds

The results may surprise you. It's not being on social networks that makes people anxious. It's being away from them. 

Photo: The Next Web/Flickr.com

Are you addicted to social media? Not just a twittering thought in the back of your head any longer, studies are beginning to show that there is a connection between anxiety and social media use.

The Salford Business School and the University of Salford conducted a study on 298 participants. The study looked at the relationship between people and their technology, from smartphones to computers and social networking sites. The majority of participants reported that they use their devices primarily for socializing.

Slightly more than half of the participants said they noticed a negative change in their behaviour when using their devices, from confrontations at work and in relationships to not being able to relax or sleep well after using their tech.

Further, half of the participants noted that being away from their technology made them anxious. More than half admitted that they had to physically turn off their devices, incapable of simply ignoring them.

To read the Huffington Post article about the study, click here.