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Change in Social Media Use and Well-being Among College Students Receiving a Two-week Exercise or Mindfulness Intervention

Not Applicable
Not yet recruiting
Conditions
Wellbeing
Social Media Addiction
Anxiety
Depression Disorder
Registration Number
NCT07097545
Lead Sponsor
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Brief 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).

Detailed 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 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 two weeks, compared to a control condition (no intervention).

Aim 2: Compare self-reported and behavioral (smartphone screenshots of social media use screentime) measures of social media use before and after two social media use interventions over two weeks, compared to a control condition (no intervention).

Aim 3: Examine mental health and social media use one week after the intervention period is complete (3-week follow up) or testing whether the interventions have effects beyond the intervention period.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
300
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 less than 1 hour daily
  • Exercises more than 1 hour daily

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Change in Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 (DASS-21)baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

Score range = 0-63, higher score = worse outcome

Change in World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQoLBREF) scalebaseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

Score range = 13-65, lower score = worse outcome

Change in smartphone screen time (minutes) for social media usebaseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

Past-week amount of screen time for social media use

Change in number of social media use smartphone pick-upsbaseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

Past-week total number of smartphone pickups for social media use applications

Change in percent of time using social mediabaseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

Past-week percent of time using social media compared to other smartphone application categories.

Change in social media use notifications receivedbaseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

Past-week total number of notifications received for social media use applications

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Change in University of California, Los Angeles 3-Item Loneliness Scalebaseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

Score range = 3-9, higher score = worse outcome

Change in The Gratitude Questionnaire, 6-item form (GQ-6) scalebaseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

Score range = 6-42, lower score = worse outcome

Change in Motivations for Electronic Interaction Scale (MEIS)baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

Score range = 10-50, higher score = worse outcome

Change in Comprehensive Assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Processes (CompACT-15)baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

scale Score range = 0-138, lower scores = worse outcome

Change in Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS)baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

Score range = 6-35, higher score = worse outcome

Change in Fear of Missing Out Scalebaseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

Score range = 10-50, higher score = worse outcome

Change in hours spent socializing inperson with peersbaseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

Score range = 0-20+ hours of in-person socialization, lower scores = worse outcome

Change in number of evenings of past-week recreationbaseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

Score range = 0-7 evenings of recreation, lower scores = worse outcome

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Johns Hopkins University

🇺🇸

Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Johns Hopkins University
🇺🇸Baltimore, Maryland, United States

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