‘small break’ from social media can have big impact on mental health
according to a new study, even a week away from social media can decrease anxiety and depression levels.
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it is projected that 96 per cent of online canadians, or 38.18 million people, will be on social media by 2026. getty
a new study has found that staying away from social media for as little as seven days can lead to significant improvements in overall wellbeing.
the study, published in the journal cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking, found that people who agreed to stop spending time on sites such as instagram, twitter, facebook and tiktok experienced reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression — in addition to regaining an average of eight hour per week.
“scrolling social media is so ubiquitous that many of us do it almost without thinking from the moment we wake up to when we close our eyes at night,” said jeff lambert, lead researcher of the study from the university of bath’s department for health in the uk. “we know that social media usage is huge and that there are increasing concerns about its mental health effects, so we wanted to see whether simply asking people to take a week’s break could yield mental health benefits.”
to do this, researchers recruited 154 daily social media users between the ages of 18 and 72 and randomly assigned them to one of two groups: an intervention group that was asked to stop all social media use for one week, and a control group that could continue scrolling to their heart’s content. subjects, who had baseline scores for anxiety, depression and wellbeing taken, reported spending an average of eight hours per week on social media prior to the study.
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researchers, who largely relied on screen usage stats to ensure subjects adhered to instructions, found that the intervention group used social media for an average of 21 minutes per day during the study compared to seven hours for the control group. by the end of the week, they found subjects who stopped scrolling experienced significant improvements in their wellbeing — including a decrease in anxiety and depression — compared those who did not.
“many of our participants reported positive effects from being off social media with improved mood and less anxiety overall,” lambert said. “this suggests that even just a small break can have an impact. 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.”
social media use has exploded in canada in recent years, with around 31.8 million canadians visiting an average of six different social networks — and spending just under two hours there — every day, according to online business canada. it is projected that 96 per cent of online canadians, or 38.18 million people, will be on social media by 2026. with the vast number of people online or on the way, researchers have turned their focus to determining the consequences of this level of exposure.
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the team behind the current study now plans to explore whether taking a hiatus from social media has a different impact on different populations (such as younger adults of people with mental health issues) and to see if the benefits of these breaks are long-lasting. if they are, they suggest that it might make sense to incorporate such measures into overall efforts to help manage mental health.
dave yasvinski is a writer with healthing.ca
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