New information is changing the way specialists discuss the impact of social media on the mental health of young adults. NPR featured a recent study that found the symptoms of depression and anxiety after only one week without using the main platforms to be significantly improved in young adults from 18 to 30 years of age. Those involved in the “digital detox” from such apps as Instagram, X, and TikTok experienced better mood, more concentration, and less emotional distress than the group of people who continued scrolling, thus, pointing out the strong relation between social media and mental health.
The researchers emphasize that the purpose is not to completely put the blame on social media and mental health since online spaces can provide community, creativity, and supportbut to foster the practice of using it more intentionally. A great number of young adults, who participated in the study, claimed that they were not aware of the close connection between social media and mental health until they took a break and saw their stress level dropping.
For some individuals, just by decreasing the time spent on the screen instead of quitting altogether, they could experience the improvement of their mental health. Nowadays, more and more clinicians suggest short and doable “experiments” with social media and mental health restrictions such as: turning off notifications during the night, deleting an app for a week, or limiting the usage to 30 minutes daily. These changes that are easy to implement make people feel curious, not punished, about the relationship between social media and mental health in their personal lives. The broader
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