TLDR
When Facebook became available at colleges, students' mental health got worse and their schoolwork suffered more because of it.
Summary
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1 Study Aim
The study aims to measure how the introduction of Facebook, a social media platform, affected the mental health of college students. The authors want to understand if gaining access to Facebook changed how often students experienced mental health problems and whether it made it harder for them to do well in school. The study wants to find out if getting Facebook made college students feel worse and struggle more with their studies.
2 Study Design
The researchers use a natural experiment created by the staggered (gradually timed) rollout of Facebook at different US colleges. They combine this timing with data on student mental health from before and after Facebook became available at each college. The main method is a generalized difference-in-differences approach (a statistical technique that compares changes over time between groups with and without the new experience). This design helps them estimate the effect of Facebook by comparing colleges that got Facebook earlier to those that got it later. The study compares mental health before and after Facebook arrived at different colleges to see if there was a change.
3 Findings
The study reveals that when Facebook became available at a college, students' mental health declined. The authors report that students were more likely to say their mental health problems hurt their academic performance after Facebook's introduction. The research demonstrates that these negative effects are likely caused by Facebook encouraging students to compare themselves to others in ways that make them feel worse. The authors suggest that social media can have harmful effects on mental health and school success, especially when it leads to negative social comparisons. Students felt worse and did worse in school after Facebook arrived, probably because it made them compare themselves to others more.