A Week Of Social Media Detox Reduces Depression And Anxiety, Finds New Research
Researchers monitored anxiety with the help of the General Anxiety Disorder Scale that looked at how often a person was bothered by feeling nervous or on edge, or was unable to stop worrying.
Taking just a week off toxic social media platforms can considerably slash the risk of depression and anxiety.
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Also Read: Social Media Addiction Makes People Embarrass And Anger Others Online, Says Study
This is according to a new research conducted by the University of Bath that split a sample of 154 individuals from the age group of 18 to 72 into two groups. One group was banned from using social media entirely while the other wasn¡¯t.
On average, participants browsed social media sites for eight hours a week. Researchers asked them questions on the baseline levels of depression and anxiety as well as their sense of well-being with the help of three recognised tests.
Researchers asked them to rate their agreement with statements like ¡°I¡¯ve been feeling optimistic about the future" and "I¡¯ve been thinking clearly" to measure wellbeing.
In order to measure depression levels, the participants were asked questions on the lines of, ¡°how often during the past two weeks were you bothered by little interest or pleasure in doing things.¡±
Researchers monitored anxiety with the help of the General Anxiety Disorder Scale that looked at how often a person was bothered by feeling nervous or on edge, or was unable to stop worrying.
Also Read: US Proposes Law To Sue Instagram, TikTok For Getting Kids Addicted To Social Media
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Those who took a week¡¯s break from social media saw their well-being rise from an average of 46 to 55.93 on The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale. In this group, the levels of depression also saw a massive drop -- from 7.46 to a considerable 4.84 whereas anxiety dropped from 6.92 to 5.94 on the Patient Health Questionnaire-8.
Lead author Dr Jeff Lambert, of the university's Department for Health, explained, ¡°Many of our participants reported positive effects from being off social media with improved mood and less anxiety overall. This suggests that even just a small break can have an impact.¡±
In future, researchers hope to study the impact of pausing social media use on particular segments of the population. They also plan to follow up with people beyond a week to see if the benefits of the social media break had any lasting effects.
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