Social Media Use Study
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Summary
The investigators will be randomizing 300 college student participants with high levels of social media use into either a 1) control condition (no intervention), a 2) mindfulness meditation cognitive intervention, or 3) a social media reduction + exercise replacement intervention. Participants complete intervention activities daily for two weeks. The investigators will collect self-report and behavioral measures of social media use and related psychological constructs at three time points: baseline, immediately after the intervention period, and one-week after the intervention period (three weeks from baseline).
Description
The objective of this study is to test two cognitive and behavioral interventions designed to reduce social media use and improve psychological constructs related to social media use in a sample of university students. The cognitive intervention is a mindfulness meditation exercise taken from the Calm app focused around gratitude and stress management. Each meditation takes approximately 15 minutes to complete and is to be done daily for two week. The second behavioral intervention is asking participants to reduce social media use for 30 minutes daily for two weeks and replacing that time with…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Yes
Inclusion Criteria: * The participant is 18 or older. * The participant must be a Johns Hopkins University student. * Owning an iPhone or Android smartphone, with frequent use of social media use daily (\> 1 hour) * Enabling and sharing screenshots of the participant's smartphone use metrics, including number of last-week pickups, notifications received, and average screen time. * Providing consent to participate. * Only exercising 1 hour or less daily, on average. Exclusion Criteria: * younger than 18 * Not a Johns Hopkins University Student * Doesn't own a smart phone * Uses smartphone…
Interventions
- BehavioralMindfulness
15 minute daily guided meditation
- BehavioralSocial Media Reduction
Reduce social media use at least 30 minutes daily and exercise instead
- BehavioralExercise
Participants will exercise at least 30 minutes daily. Participants are given examples of common exercises (walking, yoga, strength training, etc.), but are allowed to choose any type, although dissuaded from activities with high potential for injury.
Location
- Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimore, Maryland