Effect of a Week-long Social Media Abstention on Sustained Attention Functions

NCT ID: NCT06114017

Last Updated: 2024-04-05

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 50 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2023-08-29
• Study Completion Date: 2024-08-31

Brief Summary

The current study's goal is to determine if a one-week break from social media in all forms has a beneficial effect on people's attention, as measured by the Sustained Attention to Response Task, executive function as measured by the Stroop test, and well-being.

Detailed Description

50 participants between the ages of 18 and 30 years will be recruited for the study via fliers and word of mouth. Following consent procedures, those who choose to participate will be randomized to intervention or control. 25 will be randomly selected to be in the social media group and the other 25 will be selected to go 1 week without engaging with or viewing social media to the best of their ability.

All participants will complete a demographic form at baseline and a survey about their use of social media, as well as the Bergen Social Media Assessment Scale, and the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale. Following that, they will complete the Stroop and the SART, described below. All 50 of them will be asked to take the SART and Stroop (Inquisit Millisecond versions) tests to obtain baseline attention and executive functioning measures. Temporary deletion of social media apps will be supervised by an investigator. Subjects will be given a daily brief report/log to record any use of social media through Redcap. At the end of the week a repeat SART, Stroop, and Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing scale will be re-administered. The group that deleted their social media will then be able to redownload their social media if they so choose. A survey about their subjective experience at the conclusion of the week will then be given to all subjects.

Conditions

Attention Difficulties

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

1: Social Media Abstention

People in this arm will be encouraged to disable social media and not use social media for one week.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Social Media Abstention

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

People will stop or reduce their social media use for one week.

2: Control

People in this group will continue their normal behavior in regard to social media use.

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Social Media Abstention

People will stop or reduce their social media use for one week.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• 18-30 years old
• have and regularly use some form of social media
• use on average more than 1 hour of social media a day
• are willing to temporarily delete all social media for 1 week duration

Exclusion Criteria

• no social media usage
• ADHD or other known conditions that affect attention and/or concentration
• current concussion

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 30 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

New York Institute of Technology

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Amber Sousa

Assistant Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

NYIT

Old Westbury, New York, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

Amber Sousa, PhD

Role: CONTACT

asousa@nyit.edu

516-686-7698

Alec Toufexis

Role: CONTACT

atoufe01@nyit.edu

516-686-7698

Facility Contacts

Amber Sousa, PhD

Role: primary

asousa@nyit.edu

631-686-7698

Other Identifiers

BHS-1894

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id