A Pew Research Center Internet, Science & Tech Project study (Hampton, Rainie, Lu, Shin, & Purcell, 2015) looked at the relationship between social media use and stress. Overall, the researchers found that frequent Internet and social media users do not have higher levels of stress, but there are circumstances under which the use of social media increases awareness of stressful events in the lives of others.

Especially for women, this greater awareness is tied to higher levels of stress.