Abstinence from social media use, subjective well-being, stress, and loneliness
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PURPOSE: Studies with experimental designs in which the association between participants' subjective well-being and their use of social media is studied remain rare. This study tested the effect of abstaining from social media use on participants' well-being, affect, perceived stress, and sense of perceived loneliness. DESIGN AND METHODS: Randomized, controlled design. Sixty-eight participants were randomized to one of two conditions. FINDINGS: Those who abstained from social media use, compared with those in the control group, evidenced a decline in life satisfaction, an increase in negative affect, and an increase in loneliness. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Excessive social media use poses deleterious consequences for users, but abstinence may not necessarily exact positive changes; this outcome is dependent on the functions for which social media are used.
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Vally and D'Souza showed that a week-long abstinence from social media led to reduced life satisfaction and increased negative affect and perceived stress.
“Moreover, Vally and D'Souza (42) showed that a week-long abstinence from social media led to reduced life satisfaction and increased negative affect and perceived stress.”
From Does Social Media Use Increase Depressive Symptoms? A Reverse Causation Perspective (2021) · cites this paper as [42]
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“However, other research has found that short periods of abstinence have no effect (e.g., Agadullina et al., 2020; Hall et al., 2019) or have negative effects such as increased loneliness and decreased life satisfaction (Vally & D'Souza, 2019; Vanman et al., 2018).”
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- Authors
- Vally, Z., & D'Souza, C. G.
- Affiliations
- United Arab Emirates University (AE)
- Corresponding author
- Vally, Zahir
- ORCID
- Vally, Zahir
- Venue
- Perspectives In Psychiatric Care
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-08-12
- Volume
- 55
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 752-759
- ISSN
- 0031-5990 (ISSN-L)
- 1744-6163
- OpenAlex
- W2968185913
- Cited by
- 83
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 17 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 13.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Perspectives In Psychiatric Care (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Mental Health via Writing
- Keywords
- social media use, subjective well-being, life satisfaction, negative affect, loneliness, perceived stress, excessive social media use
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Female, Humans, Loneliness, Male, Personal Satisfaction, Stress, Psychological, Social Networking, Social Media
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