Reacción a "A week without social media can reduce mental health symptoms in young people, according to a study"

Access to social media and other content published on the internet via smartphones is a significant advance in terms of access to information and knowledge, interaction with other people, and entertainment. However, frequent and prolonged use of these tools can interfere with healthy behaviors such as physical activity, personal relationships, sleep and eating habits, or increase exposure to negative social influences, posing health risks from sedentary lifestyles, insufficient rest, social isolation, or even mental disorders such as depression or addiction. In the study just published by Calvert and colleagues, the association between different objective measures of social media use, a Problematic Use of Social Networks (PUSN) questionnaire, and several scales assessing symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and loneliness was analyzed in a sample of young people aged 18-24 over a two-week period. Participants were then invited to spend a week of “detox” in which they had to reduce their access to social media.

The results of the study showed that decreased social media use was associated with reductions in symptoms of poor mental health, mainly among those who had previously been identified as problematic users through the PUSN questionnaire. In addition to the impact on mental health, it would be interesting to know the impact of reduced social media use on other potential negative effects—which are not uncommon—such as increased sedentary behavior or reduced hours of rest and personal interactions.