Limiting social media and its impact on physical activity levels: A randomized controlled experiment

With the rise in mental health concerns among university students, researchers are examining modifiable behaviours linked to better mental health. Social media use (SMU) has gained considerable attention for its small negative effect on mental health, particularly in youth. One theory explaining this link is that SMU may be related to mental health because it displaces time away from adaptive behaviours such as physical activity. Indeed, researchers have found a negative link between higher SMU and lower physical activity, both factors that are related to higher symptoms of mental illness. We examined if university students experiencing emotional distress assigned to reduce their SMU engage in more physical activity. A 4-week randomized controlled design was used. After a 1-week monitoring baseline period, participants (N=186; 76% female) were randomized to reduce SMU to 1 hour per day or a control condition that used social media as usual. SMU was measured via daily screenshots of screen-time from smartphones. Physical activity was measured using a self-report scale. Results from a repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed no significant effect of the intervention over time on physical activity (F(1, 184) =0.10, p=.75, hp2 =.001). Reducing SMU did not promote physical activity among university students, thus does not account for improved mental health observed with social media use reduction. More research is needed to examine how people reallocate their extra hours per day when they reduce their SMU, and how these activities relate to mental health.