eports demonstrating modest but significant correlations between heavy social media use (SMU) and poorer mental health in youth have led many to suggest that heavy SMU is culpable. Although many youth may not be harmed by heavy SMU, distressed youth may be particularly vulnerable. The aim of this study was to experimentally examine the effects of reducing SMU on smartphones on symptoms of depression, anxiety, fear of missing out (FoMO), and sleep in youth with emotional distress. A randomized controlled trial was used to assign 220 youth aged 17–25 years to either an intervention or control group. The intervention group was asked to reduce smartphone-based SMU to 1 hr/day for 3 weeks while the control group had no SMU restrictions. SMU was objectively measured daily via tracking systems in smartphones. Mental health and sleep were subjectively assessed at baseline and following the 3-week intervention period. Compared to the control group, the intervention group showed significantly greater reductions in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and FoMO, and greater increases in sleep. No effects of gender were detected. Reducing SMU on smartphones to approximately 1 hr/day may be a feasible, inexpensive, and effective method of increasing sleep and reducing symptoms of depression, anxiety, and FoMO among distressed youth.
Read the full publication on APA PsycNet.
The relationship between social media use and life satisfaction changes across adolescent development. Our analyses of two UK datasets comprising 84,011 participants (10–80 years old) find that the cross-sectional relationship between self-reported estimates of social media use and life satisfaction ratings is most negative in younger adolescents.
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In the past few years internet addiction (IA) and internet gaming disorder (IGD) have become very frequent, leading to many personality and psychiatric disorders including low self-esteem, impulsivity, poor sleep quality, mood disorder, and suicide. IA has been included in Appendix III of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as IGD. In addition, IA leads to many neuroanatomical and neurochemical alterations including cortical thinning of various components of the brain and altered dopaminergic reward circuitry.
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As this 60 Minutes report discovers, you can have too much of a good thing. “Internet Addiction Disorder” is now a genuine psychological illness. It’s ruining lives and even changing the way our brains process information. Worse still, experts are seeing dangerous signs in toddlers.
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