A short social media detox improves mental health, a study shows. Here's how to do it

"If you have ever sworn off social media for a week or two because you sensed it was feeding your anxiety or dampening your mood, you may be on to something. A new study out last week in JAMA Network Open found that cutting down on social media use even for a week can significantly reduce mental health symptoms in young adults."

"In the new study, Torus and his colleagues tried to get a more objective measure of social media use. They recruited 373 young adults ages 18 to 24. For the first two weeks, participants used social media like they normally would and allowed researchers to record information from their phones about their social media use, their step counts and their sleep. They had participants download an app that sent the data directly to the researchers."

373 young adults ages 18 to 24 provided two weeks of baseline phone-derived data while using social media normally. An app recorded social media use, step counts, and sleep. After baseline, participants completed standardized questionnaires measuring depression, anxiety, insomnia, and loneliness, then limited social media for one week. Cutting social media use for one week produced significant reductions in mental health symptoms and improved subjective well-being. Objective phone metrics avoided reliance on self-reported screen time, revealing that brief social media breaks can deliver measurable mental health benefits for young adults.

Read at www.npr.org