Social Media and Mental Health

We provide quasi-experimental estimates of the impact social media on mental health by leveraging a unique natural experiment: staggered introduction Facebook across US colleges. Our analysis couples data student around years Facebook’s expansion with generalized difference-in-differences empirical strategy. find that rollout at college had negative health. It also increased likelihood which students reported experiencing impairments to academic performance due poor Additional evidence mechanisms suggests results are fostering unfavorable comparisons. (JEL D91, I12, I23, L82)