It won't come as a surprise to many people to learn that taking a break from social media can lead to improvements in things like depression and anxiety.
Photo: © IDPS, University of Bath 2020
But a new study out of the University of Bath has shown that just one week off scrolling through Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter can significantly improve individuals' overall level of well-being.
Lead researcher Dr Jeff Lambert said the participants - 162 randomly allocated social media users aged 18 to 72 - reported positive mental health benefits from being off social media, with many noting improved mood and less anxiety overall.
Dr Lambert joined Sunday Morning to discuss the study, published in the US journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, and the benefits of taking a break from social media.
"Social media usage is definitely on the rise," he said.
In the study, Dr Lambert noted that in the United Kingdom, the number of adults using social media jumped from 45 percent in 2011 to 71 percent in 2021. Covid-19 lockdowns have raised that even further.
"I think part of the reason, it's one of those habitual behaviours where we don't even realise how much time we're spending," he said.
For the study, participants were divided into two groups - one that stopped using social media for a week, and a control group that kept on scrolling as normal.
The participants self-reported, and a sub-sample also downloaded an app on their phones to track usage, "which gave us extra confidence in the findings," Dr Lambert said.
After one week, the results were noteworthy.
"The main findings were basically that people that were asked to take a one-week break from these sites experienced an improvement in their kind of overall levels of well-being, but also a reduction in their symptoms of depression and anxiety.
"It looked like people were baseline using social media on average for about 7 to 8 hours a week. So about an hour a day, at least."
One of the primary reasons for the study was that very little research has been done into truly measuring how social media may affect mental health.
"There's still really a lack of any meaningful guidelines around what the sensible social media usage is.
"We have guidelines for example around physical activity, around alcohol consumption, around dietary intake, and I think in the same way we need at least something out there that kind of gives us at least some heuristic measure or benchmark to follow."
The next step for research is to see whether taking a short break can help different populations, such as youth or people with physical and mental health conditions. The team also want to measure results for breaks longer than a week.
"Anecdotally we had people emailing in saying they've made permanent changes as a result of just taking that one-week break, which doesn't necessarily mean they've stopped using it, but they may have changed their relationship to social media - for example, designating points in the day when they're using it rather than just using it all day, or maybe deleting apps from their phone.
"I think there was this sense of this study kind of giving people permission to take that break, or giving people a sort of a sense of accountability, or motivation to actually do that break.
"We really still are at the beginning of understanding on how we're using social media might also have implications on your mental health as well and your motives for using it."
So does Dr Lambert practice what he preaches in his own social media habits?
He said he does take online hiatuses, but like most people, can sometimes relapse.
"From a personal perspective, I've got a young child at home, family, for me personally when I do come off I do find myself a lot more present with what's going on around me and the people close to me in my life.
"For me personally I find it immensely beneficial."
