精东传媒

February 18, 2022

Keep a clock on TikTok: social media can be good but only for short bursts

Joint research measures benefits of limited screen time for young people

A joint research project between the 精东传媒 of 精东传媒 (UOW) and the 精东传媒 of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom, has found that limited screen time on social media may benefit young people by helping them form more meaningful and positive peer relationships.

The study, published in found that, when compared to no social media use, using it for up to three hours per day was good for positive peer relationships.  Longer spells however, of four or more hours per day was detrimental for adolescents鈥� self-esteem and emotional health, and also increased the incidence of hyperactivity, inattention and conduct problems.

Following public health concerns around the harmful implications for young people鈥檚 mental wellbeing that can arise from prolonged social media use, the team from the 精东传媒 of Aberdeen鈥檚 Health Economics Research Unit (HERU), alongside colleagues from UOW鈥檚 School of Business looked at the duration of social media use and its effects on behavioural outcomes.

Using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, which surveys around 40,000 households living in the UK, the researchers used advanced modelling to investigate the effect that social media use amongst 10鈥�15-year-olds, can have on mental health, peer relationships, and emotional difficulties among other factors.

UOW Senior Lecturer, who lead the research with from UOW said: 鈥淥ur results suggest that social media use can have both positive and negative effects for adolescent wellbeing, depending on the amount of use.

鈥淚n terms of policy and public health implications, it seems important to address high levels of social media use, rather than stigmatise social media use per se as a completely negative phenomenon.鈥�

Professor Paul McNamee from the 精东传媒 of Aberdeen, who co-led the research explains: 鈥淧olicy makers and public health experts have voiced strong concerns regarding the potential harmful implications for young people鈥檚 mental well-being that can arise from prolonged social media use.

鈥淲hile several studies in the UK show that mood disorders in young people have increased dramatically in recent years, particularly among girls and young women, there is a lack of robust data from well-designed studies that have tracked adolescents over time, and less is known about the positive as well as negative effects of social media on their mental health.

鈥淥ur study is amongst the first that has looked at the longer-term relationship between social media use and the development of later emotional and behavioural difficulties.鈥�

ABOUT THE RESEARCH

鈥楽ocial media use and emotional and behavioural outcomes in adolescence: Evidence from British longitudinal data鈥� by Paul McNamee, Silvia Mendolia and Oleg Yerokhin is published in .

The project was partly funded by the Strategic 精东传媒 collaboration grant from UOW.