Authors: Dhvani Marthak
Abstract: Social media was simply a tool for communication but has become an ubiquitous aspect of daily life in today's hyperconnected world. Its excess has taken an eyebrow from media observers, researchers, and therapists due to its unique capability to provide communication as well as content consumption. Social media such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok provide liquid spaces that blend private information, entertainment, news reporting, and friendship, hence making them irreplaceable. Yet, the psychological price of such hyperconnectivity has turned too instant. The impact of a social media detox, or "social media detox," on participants aged between 16 and 50 years is analyzed in this study. The main objectives are to investigate the changes in emotion, behaviour, and psychology that occur during and after detox and whether these can be sustained in the longer term. The study is a mixed-methods approach, where qualitative interviewing of the response of respondents via 250 questions in a questionnaire produce richness and generalizability. Quantitative data were analyzed via SPSS, but thematic analysis of open questions yields subjective experience. Findings are a radical improvement in sleep quality, concentration, emotional control, and productivity on detox. Participants also manifested greater self-knowledge and social affiliation in the offline world. Though these findings reveal positive short-term improvements, the study further demonstrates high levels of variability concerning the duration over which such improvements are maintained after detox, along with some suggestion of return towards baseline levels of behavior. Besides, initial dependency level, age, and length of detox also appeared to play key mediating roles. Current research thus adds empirical evidence concerning the potential and limitations of social media detox, hence contributing to the literature surrounding digital well-being, mental health promotion, and potential for self-regulation.
DOI: http://doi.org/
