Social Network Sites and the Emotional Spectrum

Engaging in a digital detox might not lead to an improved sense of well-being in social media users who reported a reduction in both positive and negative emotions after curtailing their social media usage as per a study published in PLOS ONE ().

In addition, moderate users also exhibited signs interpreted as withdrawal—a crucial indicator of physical dependence in substance use disorders.

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‘Well-being might not be boosted from a digital detox, as social media users who limited their usage for a week witnessed declines not only in negative emotions but also in positive ones. #DigitalDetox, #Social Network, #Well-Being ’

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Conversely, a growing body of literature highlights the positive impacts of a "digital detox" on mental health.

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Investigating this dichotomy, the study tracked the effects of a week-long reduction in Social Networking Site (SNS) usage among 51 moderate to heavy users.

Pre-registered analyses indicated that this intervention didn't elicit changes consistent with a general withdrawal syndrome or an overall well-being boost.

Surprisingly, the data revealed some abstinence-related decreases in negative affect and boredom but also a reduction in positive affect, irrespective of problematic use behaviors.

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Importantly, the restriction had no impact on implicit measures of SNS use motivation or explicit cravings and SNS cue-reactivity.

The nuanced findings suggest that limiting SNS use can have offsetting effects on well-being, potentially due to the simultaneous removal of experiences triggering both negative emotions (e.g., social comparisons) and positive emotions (e.g., social approval). These results imply that voluntary SNS use reduction does not significantly alter SNS-related urges.

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Reference:

Restricting social networking site use for one week produces varied effects on mood but does not increase explicit or implicit desires to use SNSs: Findings from an ecological momentary assessment study - (https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0293467)

Source-Eurekalert