Limiting social media use can alleviate the feeling of loneliness and depression

Shawn Knight

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Staff member
Through the looking glass: Had you pitched the concept of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to people 20 years ago, it would have sounded like an exciting new take on socializing that would bring friends and family even closer together. The reality for millions of people around the globe, however, is quite the opposite as practice – and now, data – has proven.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have found that limiting social media usage can significantly reduce the feeling of loneliness and depression.

In a study titled “No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression,” researchers monitored the social media usage of 143 undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania. After a week of baseline monitoring, the participants were randomly split into groups. Some were allowed to use Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat as usual for three weeks while the others had to limit usage to 10 minutes per day, per platform.

Participants were required to submit screenshots of their iPhone battery usage at specified increments to verify usage.

The group that had limited usage exhibited significant reductions in depression and loneliness over the three-week period versus the control group that was allowed to use social media unabated.

Interestingly enough, both groups showed meaningful decreases in fear of missing out and anxiety which suggests there could be a real benefit to the simple act of self-monitoring. It’s probably no surprise, then, that we’ve seen companies like Apple and Google, who control distribution channels, release screen time management features in recent months.

Lead image via eldar nurkovic, Shutterstock

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I try the link to the research paper, I get
"Your IP (024.039.054.000) is blocked.
Block Reason: Used as sci-hub proxy"
on a command line, ipconfig tells me that isn't my IP, anyone know what is going on?
 
I'm lonely, depressed, and a former alcoholic ...... but no worries, my cat is a professional therapist and has made it clear that if I don't cheer up, socialize more, and leave the booze alone, he'll crap on my pillow ..... the boy has the juice!!!!
 
Social media and the news is a major cause of depression. I practically cut both out of my life and much better for it.
I'll periodically check news headlines on Google but never watch the news, all you see is bad news bringing your faith in humanity to an all time low.
 
Social media and the news is a major cause of depression. I practically cut both out of my life and much better for it.
I'll periodically check news headlines on Google but never watch the news, all you see is bad news bringing your faith in humanity to an all time low.
I did this two years ago, best choice I ever made.

Watching my coworkers and friends is weird though, there are in either social media or the news most of the day, and they are constantly foaming at the mouth over some banal garbage. Then, when you try to engage them in interesting topics, they have nothing to say, because all they do is listen to the media and get angry over it.

It's a sad life to live, and I'm glad I'm out of it.
 
The use or non use of social media has nothing to do with someone feeling depressed. The writer of this article must be laboring under the delusion that limiting you exposure to social media will make people socialize with people around them more. And that the notion of engaging more with people around you will somehow deplete the depression inside. I'm here to personally make a statement that will never work with me.
 
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