Mood and Media: Leveraging Passive Sensing and EMA to Assess Daily, Bidirectional Associations of Different Smartphone-Based Media Use and Depressed Mood in Adolescents

Abstract Current research varies widely as to whether screen time is beneficial, harmful or has no effect on teens’ mental health. The current study examined whether social media use is related to depressed mood and whether depressed mood is associated with teens’ social media use, in contrast to other media use. Participants ( N = 19; 13–18 years old; 68.4% male, 79% white) allowed an application (AWARE) to passively monitor Android phone use and answered twice-daily surveys on mood and social media use for 30 days during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Bidirectional multilevel models of daily digital media use and depressed mood were analyzed. At the same-day level, lower levels of depressed mood were associated with more time on social gaming (β = -0.08, p = 0.04) and vice versa (β = -0.07, p = 0.04), as well as checking of social gaming applications (β = -0.10, p = 0.03) and vice versa (β = -0.12, p = 0.03). Higher levels of depressed mood were associated with more time on streaming (β = 0.10, p = 0.02) and vice versa (β = 0.08, p = 0.02). Time on social gaming predicted lower levels of depressed mood the next day (β = -0.07, p = 0.04). There were no associations between social media or individual gaming and depressed mood. Findings suggest that the relationship between screen time and mental health may depend on what adolescents are engaging with, underscoring the need for further similar research with larger samples to best support healthy media use and adolescent mental health.