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Battling stress these days? Then you better start filtering your Facebook friends list and wipe off those stressful moods right away! Despite being known as one of the strongest and leading social platforms, Facebook has always been under the shadow of constant criticism and controversies and seems like it is nowhere near the end.

Based on recent findings, Facebook has been lately associated with the cause of depression and anxiety among many teenagers. According to a study conducted in 2012, the Pew Research Centre showed 81% of the teenagers from the age of 12 to 17 are regular users of social media whereas 71% of them are active Facebook freaks.

Regardless of understanding the preliminary function of such social media forums, various researchers have acknowledged Facebook as spawning adverse implications on the youngsters. Physically as well as mentally, those who are Facebook buffs are often entangled in the constant web of fear leading to anxiety and panic. On the basis of former studies, Prof. Sonia Lupien, from the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Montreal in Canada has recently backed the previous investigations and established that the number of friends on Facebook list results in an enhanced amount of stress leading towards depression in later life.

The study incorporated 88 teenagers from the age of 12-17 - including 41 boys and 47 girls. They were meticulously perused and were asked to report their Facebook behavior and etiquettes including the number of hours they spend on the site as well as the quality of time and activities they usually conduct. Followed by this, they were also asked to report respective samples of cortisol, which is a hormone released in response to stress four times a day for two days.

The results demonstrated that teenagers with more than 300 Facebook friends exhibited signs of amplified cortisol. The examiners also maintained that Facebook is not the sole reason for their heightened cortisol level, but undoubtedly there are other factors responsible for emanated stress level. But despite an assorted number of determinants, Facebook tops the list and is responsible for 8% of the exaggerated cortisol level.

The entire study has maintained that even though the participants did not exhibit any meagre signs of depression, but they are more likely to get affected by it as cortisol might increase their risks of depression in the long run.