SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the put-down-the-phone-and-back-away dept.
Asking people to stop using social media for just one week could lead to significant improvements in their wellbeing, depression and anxiety and could, in the future, be recommended as a way to help people manage their mental health say the authors of a new study.
The study, carried out by a team of researchers at the University of Bath (UK), studied the mental health effects of a week-long social media break. For some participants in the study, this meant freeing-up around nine hours of their week which would otherwise have been spent scrolling Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.
[...] Participants reported spending an average of 8 hours per week on social media at the start of the study. One week later, the participants who were asked to take the one-week break had significant improvements in wellbeing, depression, and anxiety than those who continued to use social media, suggesting a short-term benefit.
[...] "Of course, social media is a part of life and for many people, it's an indispensable part of who they are and how they interact with others. But if you are spending hours each week scrolling and you feel it is negatively impacting you, it could be worth cutting down on your usage to see if it helps."
[...] Over the past 15 years, social media has revolutionised how we communicate, underscored by the huge growth the main platforms have observed. In the UK the number of adults using social media increased from 45% in 2011 to 71% in 2021. Among 16 to 44-year-olds, as many as 97% of us use social media and scrolling is the most frequent online activity we perform.
Journal Reference:
Jeffrey Lambert et al. Taking a One-Week Break from Social Media Improves Well-Being, Depression, and Anxiety: A Randomized Controlled Trial [open] Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 2022
DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2021.0324
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 14 2022, @12:24PM (1 child)
Just to be clear, even though you do not use social media...it uses you.
Ghost profiles are being created on EVERYONE that does not have an account.
That means if you happen to be in a photo shoot indirectly, your face will be added to the collective and all associated data about your surf habits..
Great job on not using social media, however, it will continue to use you.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Opportunist on Saturday May 14 2022, @12:35PM
So ... me searching for condoms and doggy bisquits gets me suggestions for really, really weird porn pages?