The Relationship Between Problematic Social Media Use and Depression: A Meta-Analysis Study

In the digital age, people interact face-to-face and through social media tools such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. The transformation of social media into problematic use has become a global concern. Studies show that problematic social media use (PSMU) is associated with many sociological, psychological, and physiological problems. One of the factors associated with PSMU is depression. This meta-analysis study aimed to systematically synthesize the relationship between PSMU and depression through existing research. This study was conducted on the Turkish population, and as a result of a screening of 10 databases, 38 studies with a total of 14,935 participants were found. The findings of the random effects meta-analysis showed that there was a positive and small association between PSMU and depression ( r = 0.321 [0.283, 0.358], p