Is Going On A Social Media Detox Good for You?

The number of people using social media continues to rise. In fact, the average person spends at least 1 hour and 40 minutes every day on social media sites and apps. This is a staggering amount of time that could be spent in more productive ways, but it also reflects current social and business culture.

Social media and your mental health

The problem with most past studies on social media’s mental health implications is that they all rely on correlation. Researchers compared the mental health of a large group of people who use a lot of social media to a large group of people who use less.

People who spend a lot of time on social media may be nervous and sad to begin with. In such a situation, spending a lot of time online is a symptom of mental suffering rather than the cause. Perhaps these groups differ in other, less obvious ways. Despite the best efforts of researchers, unanswered questions continue to remain.

While you may feel disconnected after leaving social media, the truth is that “logging out” is good for your mental health. Multiple studies have found a link between sadness and excessive usage of social media. If you’re feeling anxious, down, or burned out, it’s time to disconnect from social media — and the screen.

Newport’s study on this matter

Computer science professor and author Cal Newport’s latest study, which was recently published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, avoids these problems. Rather than examining existing social media behavior, the researchers randomly assigned half of the study participants to stop using social media for a week and the other half to continue using it as usual.

As a result of this study, according to Newport: “At the end of this week, the researchers found ‘significant between-group differences’ in well-being, depression, and anxiety, with the intervention group faring much better on all three metrics. These results held even after controlling for baseline scores, as well as age and gender.”

Will you alter your habits?

Although this study only looks at short-term effects, it appears to provide about as clear a conclusion as you could possibly hope for.

So, how many studies do you need to view before you act and change your habits?