Trial reportBMC psychology2024
Effects of a 14-day social media abstinence on mental health and well-being: results from an experimental study.
Trial report in BMC psychology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Associations of Problematic Smartphone Use and Smartphone Screen Time With Eating Disorder Psychopathology in Non-Clinical Samples: A Systematic Review.JMIR mental health · 2026Pooled it
- Psychological "effects" of digital technology: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Article
- Immersive experience of online gaming among Chinese college students: the enhanced effect of sleep deprivation on emotion regulation and problematic gaming within the I-PACE model.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- The influence of information similarity overload on users' withdrawal behaviour from social communities on SNSs.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Multimodal perceptual curation for cognitive autonomy in Generation Z decision making.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Interpersonal conflicts, social media use and depression associated with protests.Nature medicine · 2026Article
- Reducing Social Media Use Decreases Depression Symptoms: A Meta-Analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Review
- Digital bridges to social connection: A systematic review and meta-analysis of digital interventions for loneliness and social isolation.Internet interventions · 2025Review
- Article
- A Comparative Study of Short-Term Social Media Use with Face-to-Face Interaction in Adolescence.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Digital Media-use Effects (d-MUsE) Model: A comprehensive framework for exploring/studying functional and dysfunctional effects on adolescent wellbeing.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimThe study investigated the effects of a 14-day social media abstinence on various mental health factors using an experimental design with follow-up assessment. Hypotheses included positive associations between problematic smartphone use (PSU) and depression, anxiety, fear of missing out (FoMO), and screentime. Decreases in screentime, PSU, depression and anxiety, and increases in body image were assumed for the abstinence group. Additionally, daily changes in FoMO and loneliness were explored.
methodsParticipants completed different questionnaires assessing PSU, FoMO, depression and anxiety, loneliness and body image and were randomized into control and social media abstinence groups. Daily questionnaires over 14 days assessed FoMO, loneliness, screentime, and depression and anxiety. 14 days after the abstinence, a follow-up questionnaire was administered. Multilevel models were used to assess changes over time.
resultsPSU was positively associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety and FoMO, but not with screentime. Spline models identified decreased screentime and body image dissatisfaction for the intervention group. Depression and anxiety symptoms, PSU, trait and state FoMO, and loneliness, showed a decrease during the overall intervention time but no difference between the investigated groups could be observed (hence this was an overall trend). For appearance evaluation and body area satisfaction, an increase in both groups was seen. Daily changes in both loneliness and FoMO were best modelled using cubic trends, but no group differences were significant. DISCUSSION: Results provide insights into effects of not using social media for 14 days and show that screentime and body image dissatisfaction decrease. The study also suggests areas for future studies to better understand how and why interventions show better results for some individuals.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.