Students with Depression Use the Internet Differently

by Susan Leem, associate producer

Cybercafe
Photo by Pedro Figueiredo/Flickr, cc by-nc-nd 2.0

Moving beyond the debate of whether Facebook or other Internet use causes depression, researchers at Missouri University Institute of Science and Technology found that students who show signs of depression clearly have different patterns of Internet use. These students are more likely to share large files, send email, and chat online. Also, they are more likely to switch from application to application in a random manner, which is thought to reflect a difficulty with concentrating, and is one marker of depression.

Researchers hope this data can be used someday to help diagnose mental disorders by unobtrusively monitoring and analyzing the Internet behavior of a wider population. It may even alert the user when their usage starts to reflect a depressive pattern.

28 Notes/ Hide

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  5. ammirato reblogged this from beingblog and added:
    Curious. I’ll have to look back on this later.
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  7. glitterfitta said: AHHHHH this is terrible: “Researchers hope this data can be used someday to help diagnose mental disorders by unobtrusively monitoring and analyzing the Internet behavior of a wider population.”
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