Social media has become one of the most prominent forms of communication for this century, and thus it is important that we understand and research the possible side-effects of consistent usage.

Recently a new study has found that–contrary to previous studies–social media usage can in fact be a stressor for users, particularly women.

The study titled “the cost of caring,” conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project, used a survey via telephone with 2,013 adults; asking questions derived by the Perceived Stress Scale in order to reveal what degree the respondents felt their life was stressful and what factors contribute to their stress.

The study found that social media itself is not a stress-booster, but it is the accessibility to close friends and family members’ lives that can lead to increases in stress.

Lee Raine, the director of Pew Internet Research, stated that this issue lies in the reminders that social media provides; she referred to social media is a “reminding machine,” and that “it reminds you that so-and-so lost a child, or that Bob is out of work right now and that’s why he has more time.”

Results from the survey found that women tended to be the highest affected by stress induced from social media, which suggests that women are– on average–more involved in the lives of close ones via social media.

Despite this drawback of social media usage, Keith Hampton, a professor of information at Rutgers University and one of the lead designers of this experiment, made mention that individuals should not completely opt out of social media.

Hampton stated that Americans who tend to use social media the least are generally more disconnected to their communities and in their relationships then individuals who do use social media.