Anxiety, Depression Disorder, Social Media Addiction, Wellbeing
Conditions
Keywords
digital media reduction intervention, mindfulness, behavioral intervention, digital wellbeing
Brief summary
The investigators will be randomizing 300 college student participants with high levels of social media use into either a 1) control condition (no intervention), a 2) mindfulness meditation cognitive intervention, or 3) a social media reduction + exercise replacement intervention. Participants complete intervention activities daily for two weeks. The investigators will collect self-report and behavioral measures of social media use and related psychological constructs at three time points: baseline, immediately after the intervention period, and one-week after the intervention period (three weeks from baseline).
Detailed description
The objective of this study is to test two cognitive and behavioral interventions designed to reduce social media use and improve psychological constructs related to social media use in a sample of university students. The cognitive intervention is a mindfulness meditation exercise taken from the Calm app focused around gratitude and stress management. Each meditation takes approximately 15 minutes to complete and is to be done daily for two week. The second behavioral intervention is asking participants to reduce social media use for 30 minutes daily for two weeks and replacing that time with physical exercise of the participants' choosing. Aim 1: Compare psychological constructs related to mental health (well-being, stress, depression, anxiety, loneliness, social comparisons, etc.) before and after conducting two social media use interventions over two weeks, compared to a control condition (no intervention). Aim 2: Compare self-reported and behavioral (smartphone screenshots of social media use screentime) measures of social media use before and after two social media use interventions over two weeks, compared to a control condition (no intervention). Aim 3: Examine mental health and social media use one week after the intervention period is complete (3-week follow up) or testing whether the interventions have effects beyond the intervention period.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALMindfulness
15 minute daily guided meditation
BEHAVIORALSocial Media Reduction
Reduce social media use at least 30 minutes daily and exercise instead
BEHAVIORALExercise
Participants will exercise at least 30 minutes daily. Participants are given examples of common exercises (walking, yoga, strength training, etc.), but are allowed to choose any type, although dissuaded from activities with high potential for injury.
Sponsors
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Masking description
Both participants and investigators will know which intervention group each participant has been randomized into.
Intervention model description
Three groups of 1) no intervention, 2) mindfulness, or 3) social media reduction + exercise replacement intervention arms
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* The participant is 18 or older. * The participant must be a Johns Hopkins University student. * Owning an iPhone or Android smartphone, with frequent use of social media use daily (\> 1 hour) * Enabling and sharing screenshots of the participant's smartphone use metrics, including number of last-week pickups, notifications received, and average screen time. * Providing consent to participate. * Only exercising 1 hour or less daily, on average.
Exclusion criteria
* younger than 18 * Not a Johns Hopkins University Student * Doesn't own a smart phone * Uses smartphone less than 1 hour daily * Exercises more than 1 hour daily
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 (DASS-21) | baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week | Score range = 0-63, higher score = worse outcome |
| Change in World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQoLBREF) scale | baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week | Score range = 13-65, lower score = worse outcome |
| Change in smartphone screen time (minutes) for social media use | baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week | Past-week amount of screen time for social media use |
| Change in number of social media use smartphone pick-ups | baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week | Past-week total number of smartphone pickups for social media use applications |
| Change in percent of time using social media | baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week | Past-week percent of time using social media compared to other smartphone application categories. |
| Change in social media use notifications received | baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week | Past-week total number of notifications received for social media use applications |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Change in hours spent socializing inperson with peers | baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week | Score range = 0-20+ hours of in-person socialization, lower scores = worse outcome |
| Change in University of California, Los Angeles 3-Item Loneliness Scale | baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week | Score range = 3-9, higher score = worse outcome |
| Change in number of evenings of past-week recreation | baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week | Score range = 0-7 evenings of recreation, lower scores = worse outcome |
| Change in The Gratitude Questionnaire, 6-item form (GQ-6) scale | baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week | Score range = 6-42, lower score = worse outcome |
| Change in Motivations for Electronic Interaction Scale (MEIS) | baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week | Score range = 10-50, higher score = worse outcome |
| Change in Comprehensive Assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Processes (CompACT-15) | baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week | scale Score range = 0-138, lower scores = worse outcome |
| Change in Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) | baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week | Score range = 6-35, higher score = worse outcome |
| Change in Fear of Missing Out Scale | baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week | Score range = 10-50, higher score = worse outcome |
Countries
United States
Contacts
Primary ContactJohannes Thrul, PhD
Outcome results
None listed