If you’ve ever felt personally victimized by headlines stating that “Social Media Is Destroying Your Brain!”, take heart knowing that it’s mostly not your fault. You can blame some of that on your genetics.
In a new study published in Behavioral Genetics, researchers examined data from more than 6,000 identical and fraternal twins in the Netherlands Twin Register. Since twins share a ton of genetic material and, often, childhood trauma, they make perfect guinea pigs for figuring out whether behavior is nature, nurture, or a mysterious third thing.
The scientists found a small link between heavy social media use and poorer mental health, including symptoms like anxiety and depression. All the standard stuff we associate with being way too online. But then they factored in genetics. Immediately, the link mostly shriveled up.
In other words, people genetically wired to scroll more were often also wired to feel worse about it. So maybe it’s not that social media causes bad mental health, but that some of us are just genetically predisposed not to handle the constant sensory, emotional, and psychological barrage of social media.
Can’t Stop Scrolling? Your DNA Might Be to Blame.
The researchers say that genes explained roughly 72 percent of the variation in how often people used social media. Interestingly, the study also found that people with better well-being tended to browse a wider mix of platforms, while those with worse well-being stuck to fewer apps but posted more.
Basically, the happy social media users dabble, dipping their toes in different social pools as they see fit, while the only people posting on a single dedicated platform are miserable assholes. Though I’m sure the researchers didn’t put it quite so elegantly.
The study’s key takeaway here is that, according to their findings, social media isn’t all good or all bad. It’s complicated, just like everything else that makes modern life bearable and horrifying at the same time.
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