Screen usage stats were provided to check that individuals had adhered to the break. Participants asked to take a one-week break reported using social media for an average of 21 minutes compared to an average of seven hours for those in the control group. 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. Participants reported spending an average of 8 hours per week on social media at the start of the study. At the beginning of the study, baseline scores for anxiety, depression and wellbeing were taken. Their results - published today (Friday ) in the US journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking - suggest that just one week off social media improved individuals’ overall level of well-being, as well as reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety.įor the study, the researchers randomly allocated 154 individuals aged 18 to 72 who used social media every day into either an intervention group, where they were asked to stop using all social media for one-week or a control group, where they could continue scrolling as normal. 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.
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.
Image Credit: AdobeStock.Īsking 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 researchers asked study participants to take a week-long break from social media.
0 kommentar(er)
