The DOI matches its Crossref record, with a small difference in title or year; 32 of the 32 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Experimentally manipulating social media abstinence: results of a four-week diary study
Abstract
Social media use has a weak, negative association with well-being in cross-sectional and longitudinal research, but this association in experimental studies is mixed. This investigation explores whether social media abstinence leads to improved daily well-being over four weeks of time. Community and undergraduate participants (N = 130) were randomly assigned to five experimental conditions: no change in social media use, and one week, two weeks, three weeks, and four weeks abstinence from social media (i.e., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat). All participants completed a daily diary measuring loneliness, well-being, and quality of day. Results showed no main effect of social media abstinence. The duration of abstinence was not associated with change in outcomes and order of abstinence did not explain variance in outcomes. Results are consistent with trivial effects detected in large cross-sectional research, and call into question the causal relationship between social media and well-being on the daily level.
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“For instance, Hall et al. (40) manipulated social media use by randomly assigning undergraduates to varying durations of abstinence (0, 2, 3, and 4 weeks) and found that social media abstention did not account for changes in loneliness or subjective well-being [see (41) for similar finding].”
From Does Social Media Use Increase Depressive Symptoms? A Reverse Causation Perspective (2021) · cites this paper as [40]
Citations
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Metadata
- Authors
- Hall, J. A., Xing, C., Ross, E. M., & Johnson, R. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Kansas (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hall, Jeffrey A.
- Venue
- Media Psychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2019-11-05
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 259-275
- ISSN
- 1521-3269 (ISSN-L)
- 1532-785X
- OpenAlex
- W2986891606
- Semantic Scholar
- 32ec22293e00442807bba75eec808354d48af584
- Cited by
- 120
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 30
- FWCI
- 29.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Media Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University of Kansas (GRF# 2177080.)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Communication › Digital Media and Philosophy
- Social Sciences › Communication › Media and Digital Communication
- Keywords
- social media use, well-being, loneliness, daily diary, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, causal effects, abstinence duration
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