“Facebook depression” is a real sickness, not just a general term. It is the term for an emotional disturbance that develops particularly in people between 10 to 19 years of age, and is caused due to  someone spending a big chunk of their time on Social Media sites (not just Facebook alone). The primary cause of Facebook depression is comparison, which is a key stimulator of depression, and social media often creates a  subconscious pattern of comparison that is triggered as we scrawl through our newsfeeds.Life literally looks greener on the other side of the Facebook feed.

A large percentage of people get depressed due to up-comparison, which is comparing themselves with people better than them. They tend to look at people who always look great, seem to have perfect relationships and families, travel to exotic places, display success and wealth, and an overall impression of abundance and joy. What many don't realise is that people really do put their best face forward on social media, and often embellish their posts with exaggeration and half truths. People put pics that would typically make for a good showreel, with highlights, filters and perfect angles. Hardly anyone puts pics that capture a mundane day, just like they don't share the difficulties they may be hiding behind their perfect "happy couple" pic.  Since most users are almost auto-tuned to follow the proverbial 'judge the book by its cover' syndrome, they don't stop to think about what lies behind the surface. The innate tendency to assess our self worth through social comparison kicks in, and people start finding their lives pale, unexciting and unfulfilling, and plenty get dissatisfied or complexed about about their appearance and achievements.  This is particularly the case with pre teens and teens.  and then there  is also a flip side to up-comparison, and that is down-comparison. Research indicates that there are many who also get depressed when comparing themselves with inferiors.

Since social media is a huge part of the modern day, urban teen, a lot of their social activity happens on social media. Teens want to project and claim their identities on social media and do this by craving attention via saucy pics, showing off, being inflammatory, ganging up, taking sides, and even bullying each other. They even compete for popularity and judge their self worth via the number of likes their posts get, and not getting enough is associated with not being popular or good enough. A negative comment can literally lead to sleepless nights, an exaggerated sense of insecurity, anger, frustration, embarrassment, revenge, and even alienation.  All these factors have a massive negative impact on the mental health of a young minds, and soon domino into a depression.

Parents, educators and influencers often tend to underestimate how social media can impact the lives of young people in very negative ways. There is still not enough dialogue or awareness on its perils and pitfalls, and certainly not enough measures that are being actively integrated in to daily life to secure a healthier, more controlled, and informed use of the medium. Doing this on a sustained and impactful basis means engaging on these topics on an ongoing basis. Creating time for regular digital detox retreats, and instilling digital hygiene in day to day life. It also means having intermittent digital hygiene workshops for groups of students and young people. And seeking counseling on the first signs of trouble.

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