Brief exposure to negative comments on social media can trigger immediate spikes in anxiety and mood drops—especially among younger adults.
- Negative comments online trigger sharp drops in mood and spikes in anxiety
- Younger adults under 35 are especially vulnerable to online hostility
- Study used AI-generated comments to simulate real-world social media exposure
Just a few rude comments online can ruin your day, literally. A new experimental study published in Scientific Reports shows that even brief exposure to negative social media comments can immediately increase anxiety and lower mood levels in adults. Younger people, in particular, are more emotionally affected by these interactions (1✔ ✔Trusted Source
An experimental online study on the impact of negative social media comments on anxiety and mood
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Even a Few Harsh Words Can Hurt
Researchers from the University of Sussex and collaborators simulated an online blogging experience for 129 adult participants (85 women; mean age 37 years), recruited through the research platform Prolific. Participants were asked to imagine they were bloggers and read 40 comments, positive, neutral, or negative, generated by OpenAI’s ChatGPT about fictional blog posts on topics of personal interest.
Anxiety and mood responses were measured using standard tools: the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-S) and the Brief Mood Introspection Scale (BMIS). The results revealed that those who read negative comments scored significantly higher on anxiety and reported lower moods compared to those who read neutral or positive ones.
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Younger Adults Feel It More
An unplanned analysis revealed that younger participants (under age 35) experienced significantly higher anxiety and less pleasant moods than older adults (35–73 years), regardless of the comment type. Researchers suggest that younger adults may be more emotionally reactive to social evaluation due to ongoing identity formation.
On a 4-point anxiety scale:
- Negative group: 2.42
- Neutral group: 1.77
- Positive group: 1.55
Pleasant mood scores showed a similar pattern:
- Negative: 2.37
- Neutral: 3.05
- Positive: 3.25
More Than Just a Bad Mood
Beyond lowering mood, negative comments also increased arousal levels—a psychological state indicating mental stimulation, stress, or alertness. Interestingly, male participants across all comment groups reported higher arousal than female participants, though anxiety levels were similar between genders.
As a recovery buffer, researchers included a 90-second cat video after the comment-reading task to restore emotional balance, but the impact of the negative comments still showed statistically significant effects.
Why This Matters
The study adds direct evidence that negative online content, even when not personally targeted, can meaningfully impact adult mental health. Reading 40 negative comments about content you didn’t even write was enough to elevate anxiety and dampen mood.
The authors point out that younger adults may be more susceptible to…
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