Associating Internet Usage with Depressive Behavior Among College Students

Depression is a serious mental health problem affecting a significant segment of American society today, and in particular college students. In a survey by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 2009, 26.1% of U.S. students nationwide reported feeling so sad or hopeless almost every day for 2 or more weeks in a row that they stopped doing some usual activities. Similar statistics are also reported in mental health studies by the American College Health Association, and by independent surveys. In this article, the author report their findings from a month-long experiment conducted at Missouri University of Science and Technology on studying depressive symptoms among college students who use the Internet. This research was carried out using real campus Internet data collected continuously, unobtrusively, and while preserving privacy.