February 4, 2026
Therapy by timeline?
Study: emotional support from social media found to reduce anxiety
Study says online support eases anxiety — commenters split between hugs and eye-rolls
TLDR: A study of 2,403 young adults links feeling emotionally supported on social media with lower anxiety, especially among women. Commenters split between cheering “online hugs” and dunking on the idea with addiction analogies, stat nitpicks, and gender questions, highlighting the messy line between community and chaos online.
A new University of Arkansas study says emotional support on social media is linked to lower anxiety in young adults, especially folks who are more outgoing and open — and possibly stronger for women. Cue the internet chorus. The top-voted vibe? “It’s the cure and the cause.” One quip nailed it: social media is “the solution to, and source of, all your anxiety.”
Skeptics came in hot. Several users blasted the study’s dramatic opener about anxiety being “second leading cause of disability and mortality,” calling it “patently ridiculous” without receipts. Others zoomed in on the gender angle: if half the sample were men, did guys actually see the same benefit, or is this mostly a win for women? Meanwhile, the cynics dropped the spiciest analogy of the day: “Giving an addict a hit also reduces anxiety.” Ouch.
Defenders said the nuance matters: the research looked at perceived support, not doomscrolling. Positive interactions — “online hugs,” group chats, kind comments — can help. And yes, the paper itself says there’s correlation, not proof of cause, which some commenters weirdly read as a “gotcha.” The debate raged between “social media as community” and “social media as chaos,” with plenty of jokes about reply guys versus the mute button. For the academically curious, the paper’s in Psychiatry International.
Key Points
- •Study of 2,403 U.S. adults aged 18–30 found perceived social media emotional support is associated with reduced anxiety.
- •Effects were stronger among individuals high in openness, extraversion, agreeableness and low in conscientiousness.
- •Female participants showed particularly notable associations between social media support and reduced anxiety.
- •Anxiety measured with PROMIS; personality measured with the Big Five Inventory; support assessed via social media support questions.
- •Authors caution the study cannot determine causality in the association between social media support and anxiety.