Social Media: Good or Bad for the Brain?

Older Americans are increasingly turning to social media platforms to stay connected: In AARP’s national 2025 Tech Trends and Adults 50-Plus survey, 72 percent of respondents said they use Facebook and 33 percent use Instagram. If you’re one of them, you’re already familiar with the upsides of virtual socializing: It helps us keep in touch with friends and family, reconnect with people we’ve lost track of, and recall birthdays and other milestones in our loved ones’ lives. But it also has a dark side. 

According to one study, the more minutes people spent using social media on a given day, the more likely they were to experience negative feelings like being “restless or fidgety” and “upset.” That negativity, in turn, made participants more likely to experience everyday memory lapses, like forgetting to take a medication or forgetting why they entered a room, based on the study’s analysis of survey data from 782 adults between the ages of 25 and 75. The researchers noted that one possible explanation for the results, published in The Journal of General Psychology in 2021, is that social media can be a source of stress. 

Whether social media is a friend or foe may ultimately depend on how you use it. People who posted on social media frequently — several times a week or more — were more likely to experience symptoms of anxiety and depression than those who simply scrolled through their feeds, according to a study of 15,836 adults, 41 percent of whom were age 60 or older, published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research in 2024. People who post regularly may be more likely to compare themselves to others, the researchers suggested, but more studies are needed to understand what types of social media activities “might be harmful or helpful for our mental health and for which groups of people.”

One way to ensure your social media use helps you rather than hinders you is to take an occasional break from it. You can use the time to build and nurture relationships the old-fashioned way. 

“When it comes to staying connected, speak on the telephone; meet for meals, museum dates, movies; and plan get-togethers, including reunions to bring far-flung family and friends together,” says Shasta Nelson, author of Frientimacy: How to Deepen Friendships for Lifelong Health and Happiness. She makes an important point about cultivating new friendships, as well: “You need to make a conscious effort to build intimacy. Participate in something together that requires regular attendance, like the gym or an adult education class.”