Survey participants who spent the most time on social media had the highest average anxiety scores

Participants' average anxiety scores across all age groups tended to be higher for those who reported spending more time on social media.

The GAD-7 questionnaire assesses symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder. A score under 10 indicates minimal (0-4) or mild (5-9) anxiety. Those over 10 exhibit moderate (10-14) to severe anxiety (15 or higher). Of the 500 adult Floridians we surveyed, 54 did not use social media at all, 73 spent an average of less than 1 hour per day on social media, 116 spent 1-3 hours, 100 spent 4-6 hours, 72 spent 7-9 hours and 85 spent 10 or more hours.
Chart: The Conversation, CC-BY-NDSource: Stephen Neely and Kaila WitkowskiGet the dataCreated with Datawrapper