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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: 3, Insightful) by driverless on Saturday May 14 2022, @12:46PM (2 children)
It's important to have clinical trials like this to point to when pointing out that social media is toxic. With this, it's "clinical trials demonstrate the toxic effects of social media". Without it, it's "people wanking around with their opinions claim social media is toxic".
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Saturday May 14 2022, @10:11PM (1 child)
I'd like to know if this was posted on any social media venues.
Kind of doubting it, but i have no idea: can't see social media shooting itself.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by driverless on Sunday May 15 2022, @08:14AM
Not necessarily, cigarette packets have had "these things will kill you" on them for decades without having much effect (what worked was laws restricting smoking more and more combined with the message that it was socially unacceptable, not smokers being told it was bad).