Recent research published in Affective Disorders Journal It has been suggested that limiting social media use to one hour a day may reduce feelings of loneliness in young people experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety. The findings show that this simple behavioral change tends to benefit all participants equally, regardless of their gender or how often they compare themselves to others online. These results provide evidence that managing screen time may be an effective part of treating loneliness in vulnerable populations.
Humans have a deep biological need for social connection, which helps protect us from emotional distress. When young people feel lonely, they are at increased risk of developing or worsening symptoms of anxiety and depression. Social networking platforms were originally designed to connect people and build communities.
Despite these original intentions, observational studies often link heavy social media use to increased feelings of social isolation. Previous experimental studies that have tested this relationship have yielded mixed results, often showing that the effects of abstaining from social media are modest. However, many of these early studies focused on individuals who did not experience psychological distress.
These healthy participants were not particularly lonely to begin with, so there was little room for improvement. In psychology research, this is known as the floor effect, and the readings cannot get any lower. The scientists conducting the current study wanted to focus specifically on young people who already experience symptoms of anxiety and depression. These vulnerable populations often experience higher levels of loneliness.
“I have been researching the effects of screens on health and mental health for many years, and given that social media is the type of screen that accounts for the majority of screen time, I feel it is important to study the effects of social media on development and health and well-being,” said study author Gary Goldfield, senior scientist at the Eastern Ontario Children’s Hospital Research Institute and professor at the University of Ottawa.
“Social media is a tool developed to strengthen social connections, and of course it should (in theory) reduce feelings of social isolation, but despite being digitally connected almost all the time, around 25% of young people feel lonely. In fact, some studies show that social media Rather than reducing loneliness and social isolation, high use has been found to be associated with greater loneliness, and there is some evidence to suggest that high social media use can displace high-quality in-person recreational activities and social interactions with friends and family.
“However, because almost all studies are correlational, we did not know whether greater social media use increases feelings of loneliness, or whether greater feelings of loneliness lead people to use social media more to try to connect more socially and alleviate feelings of isolation. To address the question of causality, we conducted an experiment with young people with symptoms of distress who are thought to be more vulnerable to some of the psychologically harmful elements of social media (such as negative social comparisons).”
Social comparison is the habit of evaluating one’s life based on the curated, often idealized lives that others present online. People often edit their online profiles to overrepresent positive experiences, a phenomenon known as positivity bias.
This creates an environment where users constantly see others’ best moments, which can lead to feelings of inadequacy. Because the number of online connections is typically greater than the number of real-life friendships, social media provides nearly endless opportunities for these unfavorable comparisons.
The researchers recruited undergraduate students from Canadian universities for the study. The initial sample included 260 youth aged 17 to 25 years. To participate, participants had to own a smartphone and use social media for at least two hours a day. They also had to report experiencing symptoms of anxiety or depression. The study began with a 1-week baseline period to track normal behavior.
Participants used their smartphone’s built-in screen time tracking feature to monitor their daily usage. They sent screenshots of these reports to scientists daily to provide an objective measure of their habits. Participants also completed a questionnaire to measure their baseline level of loneliness and tendency to compare themselves to others online.
After a baseline week, the scientists randomly divided participants into two groups and conducted a three-week experiment. The intervention group was instructed to limit their social media use to a maximum of one hour per day. The control group received no instructions and was told to continue using the device as usual.
Of the original group, 219 participants completed the entire 4-week study and were included in the final analysis. The intervention group successfully followed the instructions and reduced their daily social media use by an average of 78 minutes. This equates to a 50% reduction. The control group maintained relatively stable usage throughout the experiment.
At the end of the three weeks, the scientists re-evaluated the participants’ loneliness levels using a standardized psychological survey called the UCLA Loneliness Scale. The researchers found that the group asked to limit their social media use experienced a significant decrease in loneliness compared to the control group. The control group experienced little change in feelings of isolation.
This provides evidence that reducing social media use positively reduces feelings of loneliness in troubled youth. The scientists noted that this intervention is consistent with behavioral exclusion theory. This theory suggests that time spent on social media replaces time that could be spent on face-to-face social interactions. By limiting screen time, people likely have more time to connect with friends and family in the real world.
“I think the key takeaway is that heavy social media use can have a negative impact on mental health and can make people feel more alone and isolated. And that cutting back on social media and connecting directly with friends and family is a much more powerful way to promote social connections and reduce loneliness,” Goldfield told SciPost. “The bottom line is that while it’s more convenient to connect socially online, there’s no substitute for real-life human interaction.”
When examining secondary variables, the scientists found no differences by gender. Both men and women had similar improvements in their loneliness scores after reducing screen time.
Similarly, participants’ underlying tendency to engage in social comparisons did not alter the effectiveness of the intervention. Limiting social media use helped reduce feelings of loneliness overall, regardless of these personal characteristics.
“Because the sheer number of social comparisons that are regularly made on social media increases with exposure, we thought that reducing social media would lead to less exposure and therefore less social comparison. Also, given that high social comparison is associated with greater loneliness, we expected that those who were high in social comparison before the intervention would experience greater reductions in loneliness,” Goldfield said. “Some studies have shown that the relationship between social media and mental health is stronger for girls than for boys, so we thought girls might benefit more from cutting back on social media than boys, but that’s not the case.”
As with all research, there are some limitations. The sample consisted primarily of female undergraduate psychology students who volunteered for a study on reducing screen time. This means that participants may have already had strong motivation to change their habits. Because of this specific demographic, the findings may not fully apply to the general population or people of different age groups.
Readers should be cautioned not to interpret these findings as a complete cure for mental health conditions. The effect size of the intervention was considered small to moderate. This suggests that simply reducing social media time is unlikely to alleviate severe loneliness. However, reducing screen time may work as part of a broader treatment strategy.
Based on these findings, scientists are now investigating whether the benefits of limiting screen time persist over time and apply to younger adolescents.
“We are launching a study (called REWIRE) to examine the effects on mental health, cognition, and brain function (as measured by fMRI scans) of a 12-week intervention aimed at reducing social media time by 50% and reallocating that time to discrete health-promoting behaviors other than screens (e.g., physical activity, time in nature, social time with friends and family, hobbies, leisure activities, etc.) in young people aged 12 to 17 with mental health concerns,” Goldfield said. he said.
The study, “Reducing Social Media Use Reduces Loneliness Regardless of Gender and Level of Social Comparison in Youth with Anxiety and Depression: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” was authored by Gary S. Goldfield, Marcus VV Lopes, Wardah Mahboob, Sabrina Perry, and Christopher G. Davis.
