Study says using fewer social networks can dispel loneliness

A research team led by scientist Melissa G. Hunt of the University of Pennsylvania, USA, accompanied a group of 143 undergraduate students on their Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat social networking activities.

During the study, students had to answer a survey of their mental well-being by sending screen shots showing their smartphone battery usage for three weeks. These screen prints served to prove which apps, and for how long, they were being used. The students were divided into two groups: one of them continued to use social networks as they normally did, and the other had the use of all three networks limited to ten minutes a day in each.

At the end of the study, Hunt and his team concluded that students who spent less time in the three networks were more excited and reduced the feeling of loneliness. And the effects were most evident in those who were worse off at the beginning of the research.

The reason why people have their negative state of mind altered is no longer new, and has been commented on in many other studies around the world. Basically, users tend to compare their lives with those of others, and almost always end up feeling inferior.

Hunt pointed out that his analysis should not have been treated as “definitive” for the subject, since the students' own usage monitoring was done, and they may have increased access to other platforms, which could alter the results. She also noted that completion may vary across different age groups or other apps, although decreasing use of these apps is never contraindicated.

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Study says using fewer social networks can stave off loneliness via TecMundo