Limiting the time spent on social media platforms can lead to improved symptoms of depression and loneliness, said a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn).This is a first of its kind study that has directly linked the time spend on social media with increased levels of depression and loneliness in adolescents.
The study, published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology in November 2018, focused on three social media platforms, namely Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.»Using less social media than you normally would leads to significant decreases in both depression and loneliness,» said lead author Melissa Hunt, associate director of clinical training at UPenn.
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Participants assessed on seven parameters before trial began
The researchers enrolled 143 undergraduates for the study. The prerequisite for participation were an account on all the three social media platforms, and an iPhone.
An iPhone has an inbuilt app that tracks active time spent on each app. The enrollees were observed for a week to understand their average use of social media. After a week, they were given a survey that assessed their well-being on seven different parameters, including fear of missing out (FOMO), autonomy and self-acceptance, loneliness, social support, depression, anxiety and self-esteem.
Once the surveys had been analyzed, the participants were randomly divided into two groups – the control group that continued to use social media as previously and the intervention group that was asked to limit their time to 10 minutes per day on each app. Each participant sent a screenshot of their battery usage to the researchers at the end of the day.
Reduced time on social media led to improved symptoms of depression
After three weeks, the participants were assessed again. It was found that the there was no change in the symptoms of depression and loneliness in the control group, whereas in the intervention group, the participants saw a marked improvement.This was more pronounced in those participants who had displayed severe symptoms of depression at the beginning of the study.
The rates of anxiety and FOMO saw a drop in both the groups, probably because the students were more aware of how much time they were spending on social media.
No change was seen in the parameters of social support, autonomy and self-acceptance and self-esteem. The researchers felt that this was because either these parameters were not affected by social media use or the length and the design of the trial was not suitable to reach any conclusions in this regard.
The researchers also felt that their study had a lot of limitations and called for advanced research. As the study monitored only the use of phones, the researchers assumed that the participants did not use a desktop or a laptop. Also, there was no design to address the participants in the intervention group who exceeded the time spent on these platforms.Further, the participants may be spending time on other social media platforms such as twitter, WhatsApp, Tumblr, etc.
Seeking help for depression
It is often difficult to diagnose depression in teens as they are usually expected to be moody and do not share their feelings easily.
In this condition, it becomes the responsibility of the guardian to take action if they notice any symptoms of depression in teenagers. A teen needs to be assessed by a mental health therapist if any of the following symptoms persist for more than two weeks.
The symptoms include withdrawing from friends and activities they once loved, feelings of overwhelming sadness and loneliness, frequent bursts of anger, overreaction to criticism, substance abuse, low self-esteem, changed sleeping and eating patterns, suicidal thoughts, etc.