Why do engagement styles matter?

Hill argues that measuring only duration misses the quality of use. As he put it: "Two people can spend exactly the same amount of time on social media while having very different psychological experiences. A focus only on reducing the amount of time people spend using social media overlooks the impact of how they are using it."

That impact, he explained, includes three dimensions: how cognitively preoccupied people are with social media, how behaviorally drawn they feel to checking or using it, and how emotionally invested they are in what happens online.

The study also found that some of the links between social media engagement and depressive symptoms were statistically explained by mindfulness factors—greater awareness, the ability to describe internal experiences, and responding less judgmentally to thoughts and feelings. In plain terms, people who engaged with social media in more absorbing or emotionally involved ways tended to show lower mindfulness, which in turn related to depressive symptoms. These pathways were less consistent for anxiety.

"Social media use has been widely linked to depression and anxiety, and this study is further evidence that the style of engagement may matter alongside the amount of time people spend online," Hill said.

What does this mean for policy?

The findings suggest a shift in approach for both consumers and policymakers. Time-based strategies—screen-time trackers, usage limits, digital detoxes—may need to be paired with attention to psychologically absorbing or emotionally involved patterns of use.

Encouraging greater awareness of how people engage with social media, rather than counting only minutes or hours, may be worth exploring, the researchers write.

Hill was direct about the limits of current approaches. "It is not simply how much time is spent on social media that matters, but also how that time is used," he said. "Together, these findings highlight the importance of identifying for whom, and under what conditions, social media engagement may be detrimental and imply that interventions and policy initiatives based solely on reducing screen time may be insufficient, particularly where social media use involves strong emotional engagement."

What are the study's limitations?

The research is cross-sectional, meaning it captured a single snapshot of participants rather than tracking them over time. As a result, it cannot show that particular styles of social media use cause changes in mindfulness, depression, or anxiety. The relationships could work in both directions: people who are anxious or depressed, for example, might engage with social media in more emotionally absorbed ways.

All data also came from self-reports, which can be subject to bias, and the sample of 304 adults may not represent all social media users.

Even with those caveats, the study adds to growing evidence that the quality of digital engagement deserves as much attention as the quantity—and that a one-size-fits-all focus on screen time leaves part of the mental health picture unexamined.