Portion-Control in Social Media? How Limiting Time Increases Well-Being

“Today, spend a little time cultivating relationships offline. Never forget that everybody isn’t on social media.” – Germany Kent If you find yourself anxiously checking the posts of your social media contacts to see what’s going on in their world and can’t seem to curb the urge to stay riveted to your feed, new research on the negative effect of too much social media on well-being may be worth your time to review.1 Researchers Find Causal Link Between Social Media Time and Loneliness and Depression In a 2018 study published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, researchers allege there is a causal link between usage of social media and loneliness and depression. Psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania say that spending too much time on popular social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat is doing more than just connecting them to their contacts. It’s making them decidedly miserable, and promoting more feelings of loneliness and depression. During the period of the study, participants in the research significantly reduced their time on social media for about three weeks. The result was they reported reduced feelings of loneliness and depression. Researchers said that the fear of missing out (FOMO) is what drives people to obsess over social media, spending inordinate amounts of time in this sedentary activity. They strongly recommend limiting screen time to about 30 minutes a day, saying that this simple self-limiting mea...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Habits Happiness Memory and Perception Research Self-Help Technology Source Type: blogs