Study shows posting on social media while on drugs is a bad idea

If you take drugs and then post on social media, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll regret it later. 

This is according to common sense, as well as a new study by researchers at the Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research (CDUHR) at NYU. 

The researchers surveyed 872 adults entering electronic dance music parties in New York City (yes, researchers basically partied in NYC for this study), who reported current or previous drug use. Among those, 34.3 percent posted on social media while high on drugs, and more than a fifth (21.4 percent) regretted it later. 

Another activity you should not be doing while high on drugs is calling or texting someone, with the regret rate being even higher, at 30.5 percent. And, according to the study, you should definitely try to avoid being in photos while high, as 32.7 percent of those surveyed regretted it later. 

While the study is thin, given researchers only talked to 872 EDM lovers in one U.S. city, it does raise an important point: People often aren’t aware how much social media and smartphones have permeated their lives. 

“While prevention programs have largely focused on physical safety—for example, not driving after drinking—such programs can also stress that using a smartphone while high can increase the risk of someone engaging in regretful behavior,” said the study’s lead author, Joseph Palamar.

(The undercurrent of the study, published recently in the International Journal of Drug Policy, is that you should probably avoid taking drugs altogether, but let’s not dwell on that now). 

The study gets more interesting when it delves deeper into the social media habits of inebriated users. For examples, it shows that marijuana users are most likely to engage in behaviors such as posting on social media or posing for photos while high, with cocaine users taking second place.