Cutting back on social media doesn鈥檛 seem to improve our self-esteem, emotional well-being or sleep. The latest study adds to a growing body of evidence that sites like Facebook and TikTok have limited impacts on mental health.
The rise in social media has paralleled an increase in diagnoses of conditions such as depression and anxiety, particularly in younger children and teenagers. As a result, some researchers argue that these sites pose a serious risk to mental health.
Studies looking into this have shown mixed results, however, and meta-analyses that combine existing research to give one conclusion typically find little or no impact. 鈥淎cross the board, we don鈥檛 find strong effects on mental health outcomes,鈥� says at Ghent University in Belgium.
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Most studies into social media use and mental health conditions have been observational and so can鈥檛 show that the former directly causes the latter.
In an attempt to overcome this, Koster and his colleagues recruited 67 volunteers 鈥� between 18 and 26 years of age 鈥� who used social media for at least 2 hours a day, as tracked by an app. They were split into two groups, with one continuing to use social media as before, while the other was limited to just 30 minutes per day for two weeks.
After that part of the experiment was over, the team followed the volunteers for another two weeks. Their sleep was tracked throughout using special watches and they repeatedly filled out questionnaires on sleep, self-esteem, mindfulness and emotional well-being.
鈥淲e found very little evidence for an effect of social media use on any of the outcomes,鈥� says Koster.
at the University of Cambridge says this study corresponds with a recent meta-analysis that similarly found that .
Most studies have only focused on time spent on social media. Researchers need to develop more detailed studies that look at behaviours and experiences on social media, as well as how these vary in different demographic groups, says Fassi.
PsyArXiv
