¿Las redes sociales realmente nos están estresando… o les estamos echando la culpa de todo? Esta vez te platico del “doomscrolling”, del famoso “brain rot”, los videos cortos, la comparación social, el FOMO, el meta-estrés, el sueño y hasta el cortisol. La evidencia es bastante más interesante que decir las redes son buenas o las redes son malas. La verdad es que, en promedio, los efectos de las redes sobre el estrés y el bienestar son modestos, pero pueden cambiar muchísimo dependiendo de quién las usa, cómo las usa y en qué momento. Además, te cuento qué encontró un metaanálisis recién publicado sobre doomscrolling, qué pasa cuando reducimos el uso de redes en experimentos reales y por qué seguir brincando de video en video puede terminar dejándote más aburrida, no menos. Y, terminamos con herramientas prácticas para que tú uses las redes… y no las redes a ti. ¡Ámonos! Espero que te guste... Aquí los links a los artículos. ¡Esta vez, son MUCHÍSIMOS! Sharma B, Lee SS, Johnson BK. The Dark at the End of the Tunnel: Doomscrolling on Social Media Newsfeeds. Technol Mind Behav. 2022;3(1) https://tmb.apaopen.org/pub/doomscrolling-on-social-media-newsfeeds Shabahang R, et al. Doomscrolling evokes existential anxiety and fosters pessimism about human nature? Evidence from Iran and the United States. Comput Human Behav Rep. 2024 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S245195882400071X Li Q, Yin X. Doomscrolling, mental health, and psychological well-being in adolescents and adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Psychol. 2026;17:1893800 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1893800/full Holman EA, Garfin DR, Silver RC. Media's role in broadcasting acute stress following the Boston Marathon bombings. PNAS. 2014;111(1):93-98 https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1316265110 Batmaz H, Özsağır CB, Arslan Şekkeli H. The Cognitive Cost of Brain Rot: Indirect Effects on Depression via Burnout, Stress, and Anxiety. Psychol Rep. 2026 () https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941261450856 Nguyen L, Walters J, Paul S, et al. Feeds, feelings, and focus: A systematic review and meta-analysis examining the cognitive and mental health correlates of short-form video use. Psychol Bull. 2025;151(9):1125-1146 https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000498 Tam KYY, Inzlicht M. Fast-Forward to Boredom: How Switching Behavior on Digital Media Makes People More Bored. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2024 https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/xge-xge0001639.pdf Braghieri L, Levy R, Makarin A. Social Media and Mental Health. Am Econ Rev. 2022;112(11):3660-3693 https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20211218 Orben A, Przybylski AK. The association between adolescent well-being and digital technology use. Nat Hum Behav. 2019;3:173-182 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41562-018-0506-1 Reducing Social Media Use Decreases Depression Symptoms: A Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials. Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ. 2025;15(11):222 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12651081/ Hunt MG, Marx R, Lipson C, Young J. No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression. J Soc Clin Psychol. 2018;37(10):751-768 https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/10.1521/jscp.2018.37.10.751 Lambert J, et al. Taking a One-Week Break from Social Media Improves Well-Being, Depression, and Anxiety: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2022 (n=154). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35512731/ Allcott H, et al. The Effect of Deactivating Facebook and Instagram on Users' Emotional State. Am Econ J: Econ Policy (en prensa); NBER w33697 https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20240806 Haidt J. The Anxious Generation (2024) — tesis de la reconfiguración/epidemia. Contrapunto: Odgers C. The great rewiring: is social media really behind an epidemic of teenage mental illness? Nature. 2024;628:29-30 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00902-2 Social media does not elicit a physiological stress response as measured by heart rate and salivary cortisol over 20-minute sessions. PLoS One. 2024;19(4):e0298553 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0298553 Rus HM, Tiemensma J. Social Media under the Skin: Facebook Use after Acute Stress Impairs Cortisol Recovery. Front Psychol. 2017;8:1609. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01609/full Shafi RMA, et al. Adolescentes con depresión vs controles (30+30): 20 min de redes elevaron cortisol y alfa-amilasa salival solo en los deprimidos. J Psychiatr Res. 2021 https://www.healio.com/news/psychiatry/20210222/depressed-adolescents-more-physiologically-reactive-to-acute-social-media-use-vs-controls Verduyn P, et al. Passive Facebook Usage Undermines Affective Well-Being: Experimental and Longitudinal Evidence. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2015;144(2):480-488 https://ppw.kuleuven.be/okp/_pdf/Verduyn2015PFUUA.pdf Godard R, Holtzman S. Are active and passive social media use related to mental health, wellbeing, and social support? A meta-analysis of 141 studies (N=145,394). J Comput-Mediat Commun. 2024;29(1) https://academic.oup.com/jcmc/article/29/1/zmad055/7595758 Bekalu MA, McCloud RF, Viswanath K. Association of Social Media Use With Social Well-Being, Positive Mental Health, and Self-Rated Health: Disentangling Routine Use From Emotional Connection. Health Educ Behav. 2019;46(2S):69S-80S https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1090198119863768 Hampton K, et al. Social Media and the Cost of Caring. Pew Research Center. 2015 https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2015/01/15/social-media-and-stress/ Montag C, Lachmann B, Herrlich M, Zweig K. Addictive Features of Social Media/Messenger Platforms and Freemium Games. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2019;16(14):2612 https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/14/2612 Twenge JM, et al. Increases in Depressive Symptoms, Suicide-Related Outcomes, and New Media (2018) https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702617723376 Primack BA, et al. Social Media Use and Perceived Social Isolation Among Young Adults in the U.S. Am J Prev Med. 2017;53(1):1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2017.01.010 Keles B, McCrae N, Grealish A. A systematic review: the influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents. Int J Adolesc Youth. 2020;25(1):79-93. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2019.1590851 U.S. Surgeon General. Social Media and Youth Mental Health: Advisory. 2023 https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/priorities/youth-mental-health/social-media/index.html American Psychological Association. Stress in America: Technology and Social Media (2017) — "constant checkers" reportan más estrés (5.3 vs 4.4). https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2017/02/checking-devices Meta-stress in the digital age: how social media and constant connectivity create new layers of stress. Ann Med Surg. 2025 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40901180/ Comisión Europea. Commission preliminarily finds TikTok's addictive design in breach of the Digital Services Act. 6 feb 2026 https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/commission-preliminarily-finds-tiktoks-addictive-design-breach-digital-services-act
