In recent months it has become more and more evident that social media has a huge impact on lives of many young people. Many teenagers have reported suicidal thoughts due to social media context. It seems to be an ongoing issue, but a study conducted by University of Pennsylvania, which was published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, showed that this can be prevented, or at least reduced!
140 undergraduates were asked to either continue their regular use of Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram, or to limit each one to 10 minutes per day, which gives a total of 30 minutes per day. Data from participants’ phones was provided to make sure that it is reliable. Participants have also filled out a questionnaire which assessed them psychologically, before and after the study. The study was particularly interested in anxiety, depression, loneliness, and the famous “fear of missing out,” also known as FOMO.
As expected, participants who chose to limit their social media activity to just 30 minutes per day have reported feeling significantly better after the three-week period. They also reported reduced depression and loneliness – this included people who came into the study with higher levels of depression.
However, interestingly, all participants reported less FOMO and less anxiety after the completion of the study, which the team suggests, may just be a resulting benefit of increased self-monitoring.
Self-monitoring can therefore help to reduce the risk of mental health illness, which can sometimes be caused by excessive use of social media.