Overview
The investigators will be randomizing 150 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 one week. 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.
Description
The objective of this study is to test two cognitive and behavioral interventions designed to reduce social media use and psychological constructs related to social media use in a sample of university students.
The first cognitive intervention is a mindfulness meditation exercise taken from the Calm app centering around gratitude. Each meditation takes approximately 12 minutes to complete and is to be done daily for one week. The second behavioral intervention is asking participants to reduce social media use for 30 minutes daily for one week and replacing that time with physical exercise of the participants' choosing.
Aim 1: Compare psychological constructs related to mental health (well-being, stress, depression, anxiety, loneliness, social comparisons, etc.) before and after conducting two social media use interventions over a period of one week, compared to a control condition (no intervention).
Aim 2: Compare self-reported and behavioral (smartphone screen shots of social media use screen time) measures of social media use before and after two social media use interventions over a period of over one week, compared to a control condition (no intervention).
Aim 3: Examine mental health and social media use one week after the intervention period is complete (follow up), examining or testing whether effects last beyond the intervention period.
Eligibility
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 your 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 less than 1 hour daily
- Exercises more than 1 hour daily