The Impact of Shallow Reading in Social Media

Not Applicable

Not yet recruiting

• Conditions: Mental Health Disorder; Social Media; Brain Imaging
• Interventions: Behavioral: smartphone related behaviors

• Registration Number: NCT05097807
• Lead Sponsor: Tang-Du Hospital

Brief Summary

Social media is pervasively used in our life. There is a research hypothesis that the information in social media is "shallow" and the long-term use of it will cause readers' addiction, insomnia, and inability to pay attention, thus reducing the efficiency of learning and working. However, there is no systematic study on the relationship between "shallow reading" in social media and attention, addiction, sleep quality, and other mental health. Therefore, the investigators intend to explore the effect of "shallow reading" in social media on mental health based on about 300 healthy subjects by conducting questionnaire, cognitive scale assessment, multi-mode MRI scanning and EEG monitoring. A cross-sectional study will be combined with a longitudinal study to explore the clinical characteristics its relationship to brain function.

Detailed Description

With the development of social media such as "twitter", "Facebook" and "Microblog", "shallow reading" has gradually become the main way for people to obtain external information and relax. "Shallow reading" is characterized by incomplete and intermittent reading patterns, and readers often "dip into it" without thinking. There is a research hypothesis that the information in social media is "shallow" and the long-term use of it will cause readers' addiction, insomnia, and inability to pay attention, thus reducing the efficiency of learning and working. Some researchers even concern that "shallow reading" is destroying human beings' suspicion spirit, thinking ability and rational thinking which are based on writing and print culture. However, there is no systematic study on the relationship between "shallow reading" and attention or other mental health, not to mention its fMRI and EEG characteristics. Therefore, the investigators intend to explore the effect of "shallow reading" in social media on mental health based on about 300 healthy subjects by conducting questionnaire, cognitive scale assessment, multi-mode MRI scanning and EEG monitoring. A cross-sectional study will be combined with a longitudinal study to better understand both the short-term and long-term effect of "shallow reading" habit to the mental health and imaging characteristics. The collected indexes will be analyzed to explore the clinical characteristics of people with the habit of "shallow reading", and its relationship to mental health, brain imaging characteristics will finally be clarified.

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2021-09-26
• Study First Submitted QC: 2021-10-16
• Study First Posted: 2021-10-28
• Status Verified: 2022-10
• Study Start: 2022-10
• Last Update Submitted: 2022-10-27
• Last Update Posted: 2022-10-31
• Primary Completion: 2023-10
• Study Completion: 2024-06

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 300

Inclusion Criteria

1. Health volunteers
2. Capable to use smartphone

Exclusion Criteria

1. Participants with a BMI greater than 30 or less than 18.5
2. Any use of cigarettes or alcohol
3. Color blindness
4. Left-handedness
5. With mental or psychiatric disorders
6. With cognitive impairment
7. Has a history of brain trauma
8. Has a family history of psychiatric disorders

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
The impact of word-picture-based shallow reading in social media	smartphone related behaviors	Use Microblog on their smartphone, a word-picture-based social media service similar to twitter.
The impact of short video-based shallow reading in social media	smartphone related behaviors	Use Tiktok on their smartphone, a short video-based social media service.
The impact of full-length sci-fi novel reading	smartphone related behaviors	Read a full-length sci-fi novel (Three body) on their own smartphone.
The impact of film/TV series	smartphone related behaviors	Watch a film on their own smartphone.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Dynamic change of selective attention from baseline state to after 2 hours of social media use	Baseline state and after 2 hours	Stroop color word test (SCWT) will be used to assess the difference of selective attention before and after social media use.; minimum: 0 maximum values: 1 Higher scores mean a better outcome.
Dynamic change of sustained attention from baseline state to after 2 hours of social media use	Baseline state and after 2 hours	Continuous performance test (CPT) will be used to assess the difference of sustained attention before and after social media use.; minimum: 0 maximum values: 1 Higher scores mean a better outcome.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Cerebral blood flow changes from baseline state to after 2 hours of social media use	Baseline state and after 2 hours	Artery spin labeling (ASL) in MRI will be used to assess the difference of cerebral blood flow before and after social media use.
Brain functional connectivity changes from baseline state to after 2 hours of social media use	Baseline state and after 2 hours	Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) in MRI will be used to assess the difference of functional connectivity before and after social media use.