The link could also be attributed to the fact that with social media, you have access to a much wider array of people sharing experiences, and thus you are able to compare them to your own. This might come with a greater realisation of "this thing I thought was just being sad, actually sounds like depression, I should talk to someone."
This timing also coincides with efforts to erase the stigma behind mental illness, which encourages more people to talk with their doctor and seek advice, insight, and possibly treatment for what they're feeling or things that otherwise would have gone completely unreported even 20 years ago.
I'll never really understand why people demonize social media as an all-encompassing entity, but I usually get the feeling that they're older people still struggling with the shock of expanded access to society. Social media, the core of it, is really just other people.
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