Although we are convinced that social media has the power to unite people from all over the world, research shows that there is a large percentage of people who feel very lonely while looking at their screen.
It's been a decade since social media entered our lives, but in recent times, there has been a growing body of research linking depression to social media use. So far, most studies have been inconclusive, as it's unclear whether some people use social media because they feel lonely, or whether social media causes negative feelings in the first place.
It seems that an answer was recently provided by researcher Melissa Hunt in a paper in the latest Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, about how emotional health and social media use are linked. According to this paper, limiting our exposure to social media can improve our mental health.
Initially, the study compared two groups of students over a three-week period. The first group, called the control group, used Facebook, Instagram , and Snapchat as much as they wanted each day. On the other hand, the second group, called the experimental group, limited their use of the same apps to ten minutes a day.
The study examined the mental health of both groups before and after the experiment. The results showed that after the end of the study, the experimental group showed reduced rates of loneliness and anxiety compared to the other group. What was impressive was that both groups recorded a decrease in “FOMO” (fear of missing out) within three weeks, which showed that knowing how one uses social media leads to self-control, which in turn could improve emotional health. The study did not show the reasons why social media makes us sadder and lonelier. However, previous research has shown that its use enhances comparisons between us, which leads to negative emotions. This happens because when a user sees massively and constantly what others are doing in their daily lives, it raises questions about their own lives and productivity.
Most importantly, all research concludes that increased use of social media increases loneliness and anxiety, while the solution lies in limiting their use.
