Some of us go online to view happy stories about puppies, heroic rescues and cute toddlers. But if you're feeling depressed, you're more likely to browse negative content. Unfortunately, a new University College London (UCL) study shows that this tendency only worsens your mood.

Browsing while in a low mood can set a lose-lose cycle in motion. In a series of four studies the researchers found that a person's blue mood tended to lead them to browse more negative content.

Our online behavior influences our emotional well-being.

The researchers added “content labels” to Google search results, categorizing them as positive, negative or neutral. The labels were used to give a heads-up to the study's 1,000 participants who were made aware of the emotional impact of web pages before choosing to click on them or not.

Participants with worse moods and mental health symptoms were inclined to browse the more negative online content, the team found. What's more, people who browsed more negative content ended up feeling even worse.

In another study, the researchers manipulated the websites the volunteers visited, exposing some to negative content and others to neutral content. They found that those exposed to negative websites reported worse moods afterward.

When the participants were then asked to browse the internet freely, those who had previously viewed negative websites (and experienced a worsening of mood afterward) chose to view more negative content.

“Our results show that browsing negatively valenced content not only mirrors a person's mood but can also actively worsen it. This creates a feedback loop that can perpetuate mental health challenges over time,” Tali Sharot, the co-lead author of the study and Professor of Psychology & Language Sciences at the Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, said in a press release.

“We are accustomed to seeing content labels on our groceries providing nutritional information… to help us make informed decisions about what we eat. A similar approach could be applied to the content we consume online...”

The study supports previous research that has shown our online behavior influences our emotional well-being. This could make labeling content, based on potential emotional response, a helpful practice.

“We are accustomed to seeing content labels on our groceries providing nutritional information such as sugar, calories, protein, and vitamins to help us make informed decisions about what we eat. A similar approach could be applied to the content we consume online, empowering people to make healthier choices online,” Sharot, also on the faculty of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, suggests.

We spend a good deal of our lives online. The study estimates that internet users ages 16 to 64 spend an average of six hours and 40 minutes surfing the web daily. That's about 47 hours a week and 101 days a year.

Of course, there aren't labels warning us about how webpages might affect our emotional well-being, so you may want to try these suggestions to guard your emotional well-being:

  • “Check in” before clicking: Take a moment to assess your mental state before engaging with potentially triggering content.
  • Take breaks: Regularly step away from your screen to engage in activities that promote relaxation.
  • Be aware of your emotions: Pay attention to how different online content makes you feel and adjust your exposure accordingly.

The study is published in Nature Human Behaviour.