(Undated)-- We all use the internet for almost everything these days and in fact, most of us including those who work in television, couldn't survive much without it.
And of course there's always a downside to everything that is used in abundance. Some Researchers are saying your internet use can be an indicator of depression. Yes, you read this correctly, the amount and type of online activity you do may be indicator of depression.
According to CNET, researchers hope this will lead to software tools to help identify depressive behavior.
People who showed symptoms of depression tended to use the Internet differently than those who didn't show signs of depression, researchers said in a New York Times opinion piece today. Some of that behavior included obsessively checking e-mail, watching lots of videos, and switching frequently among multiple apps, according to a new study by researchers from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
The researchers asked 216 college students to complete a questionnaire to determine whether they were depressed, then asked the school's information technology department to examine how the students spent their time on the Internet.
"This didn't mean snooping on what the students were looking at or whom they were e-mailing; it merely meant monitoring how they were using the Internet - information about traffic flow that the university customarily collects for troubleshooting network connections and such," the researchers said.
They then conducted a statistical analysis of the depression scores and Internet usage patterns. Researchers found a correlation between high depression scores and greater instances of sharing files such as music and movies.
Another finding was that participants with depression symptoms tended to engage in high e-mail usage, although the researchers noted that previous research has shown that frequent e-mail checking may relate to high levels of anxiety.
The study is expected to be published soon in an upcoming issue of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine.
CNET/CBS