Practical Research 1

Social Media Detox: The Importance of Having Scheduled Social Media Breaks in the
Mental Health of Students

Members:

Leslie Jade Valdez

Arc Ison Clemen

Denver Cillo

Vince Collamar

Jaqueline Sambas

!. Introduction

In the world of modernization, technology and innovation has become our

foundation in developing society. Upon entering this phase, social media use has become
rampant as people use it even on a day-to-day basis. Nowadays, the issue of social media
abuse has become something that endangers the welfare and life of its users, and so having
a break from social media toxicity has become a necessity to everyone. A social media detox
is a conscious elimination of social media use and consumption for a set period. The break's
duration and the social media platforms it will cover are specified. According to a study,
both regular and extreme social media users experienced less stress after avoiding social
media for around a week. The consequences were particularly obvious among heavy social
media users, especially the students. (Melegrito, 2022).

Young individuals are using social networking sites more frequently as a result of
their proliferation. High levels of social media use were linked to problematic behaviors,
low self-esteem, and depressive symptoms, while the link to mental wellbeing is still
debatable. The phrase "Social Media Detoxification" (Detox) refers to voluntary efforts to
cut back or cease using social media in order to enhance wellbeing. Recently, more users
tend to disengage and detox from social media temporarily for a certain period often set in
advance In order to better understand the characteristics of social media detoxification
practices used by 68 university students in their social media activity, we performed a pilot
study. According to a descriptive analysis, the majority of students said the detoxification
period improved their mood, lowered their anxiety, and helped them sleep better. These
early results demonstrate that ‘social media detoxification' is a phenomenon that is
recognized. (Libyan, 2021). Detoxification – or detox – is a popular buzzword at the
present. Originally, the term is well-known in the nutrition and health field and implies
following a specific diet or using products and nutrition that claim to rid the body of toxins,
improving physical and mental health and promoting weight loss.1 month or 30 days of
social media detox can help you stop using social media to change your life. A 30-day break
from social media will help your physical and mental health to achieve a better life. The
discipline of not using social media for a month will help you reflect and think about your
future properly and calmly for the upcoming trials of life. When you take a break from
social media for a month you get a positive change in mood, reduced anxiety, and better
sleep during and immediately after taking a break from social media. Psychologists strongly
advise a social media detox because it has been shown to be helpful in improving your
wellbeing and mental performance. The idea of undergoing a social media detox is often a
reaction to an increasing proliferation of digital technology and the individual’s concern
that this addictive form of sociality destroys meaningful or authentic connection. Users feel
that they are combatting the moral dangers of modern digital technology by taking a social
media detox as a reminder that life is not meant to be lived through the cell phone.

According to the study of Wilbert Law (2021), These brief "digital detoxes" are
becoming more and more popular in the hope that the newly found time, previously spent
on social media, would be used for other, theoretically more rewarding, activities. Concerns
about the effects of social media use on well-being has led to the practice of taking a brief
break from social media platforms, a practice known as "digital detoxing." Moreover,
research from the past has shown that media technologies and media use serve as an
essential cultural glue between generations. Compelled to be an outsider: how students on
social media detox self-construct their generation. It has been observed that younger
generations base their sense of generational identity on the technology and gadgets they
utilize.

Indeed, social media is recognized as dominant generational glue, and expressed

annoyance and submissive resignation when looking at the practices of themselves and
their peers, who were described in most cases as “addicted” to smart devices. Disruption
from the norm of constant availability and affordances of social media offered the
participants an outsider’s look at their own everyday lives: seeing their peers engaged with
technology and not being able to do the same enabled them to assume a reflexive attitude,
contributing to the making of a generation and offered a novel perspective on both
individual and generational media use. As people are increasingly encouraged to resist and
self-regulate in the context of pervasive media, self-reflexivity-heavy social media detoxes
can be used as tools for building resilience and can even unfold to become a part of the
generational glue itself. (Lepik, 2018).

Despite the fact that using social media is among the most common activities, there
is c currently a drop in the number of active users in our time. Users either temporarily or
permanently cease using social media services. Thus, the practice of doing a social media
detox has become popular, in which individuals purposefully abstain from using social
media sites like Instagram, frequently for a predetermined amount of time. One of the most
popular social networking sites among the younger age, particularly age Y, is Instagram,
which is also known for having an addictive quality.

A. Objectives of the Study

The researchers want to utilize the benefits of the study by reaching a wider variety
of people such as the following:

Students: The study helps students understand that taking breaks from social media is
important for their mental health. It teaches them to develop healthier digital habits and
manage their time better. By taking scheduled breaks, students can reduce stress, improve
focus, and enhance their overall mental well-being.

Parents: Parents learn from the study about the impact of social media breaks on their
children's mental health. It highlights the need to set limits on social media use and
encourages parents to promote a balanced approach to screen time. By supporting
scheduled social media breaks, parents can help their children maintain better mental well-
being and engage in healthier offline activities.

Teachers: The study is valuable for teachers as they gain insights into how social media
affects students' mental health. It enables them to promote responsible social media use
and the importance of taking breaks. Teachers can incorporate these insights into
classroom discussions, provide support to students, and collaborate with parents to create
a supportive environment for balanced digital engagement.

Researchers: The study contributes to the existing research on social media and mental
health. Researchers can use its findings as a reference for further investigations into social
media addiction, digital well-being, and intervention strategies. It advances our
understanding of the relationship between social media use and mental health outcomes.

Future Researchers: The study's significance extends to future researchers. They can build
upon its findings and methodology to conduct more comprehensive studies. This allows
them to contribute to evidence-based interventions and explore the long-term effects of
social media use on mental health in different populations or age groups.

B. Significance of the Study

This study is important as it documents the process of intermittent discontinuation

by following participants as they go through an social media detox in order to gain personal
insights. Therefore, the people’s true reasons for taking a break should be discovered, their
thoughts and feelings throughout the detox should be made concrete, and their post-detox
conduct should be investigated. This kind of study also opens up the platform for those
people who have been suffering from the dangers of exposing themselves in too much
toxicity in social media and they could not do anything to escape. A recent study revealed
that users who spend more time on social media platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat and
TikTok could have much higher rates of reported depression than their peers who spend
less time on social media. he idea of a digital detox is largely linked to the growing
understanding that social media – and maintaining a digital life – can have a profound
impact on our mental health.

Social Media and Phone addiction is frequently brought up in the discipline of

cyberpsychology, which investigates how technology use affects people's mental states. Our
phones can be addicting because they allow us to interact with individuals we might not
otherwise encounter, take us to locations we might not otherwise visit, and keep us from
being bored. Therefore, this study would make a great impact specially on the students who
usually have long exposure on the internet making them vulnerable to any kind of online
threat that could affect their everyday lives.

C. Statement of the Problem

The researchers want to assess the impact of social media detox to students by addressing
the following questions:

1. Why do students expose to too much online toxicity in social media?

2. How would having social media breaks help the betterment of mental health of
students?
3. What are the significant effects of having a social media detox routine to a normal
student who uses various apps on the internet?
D. Scope and Limitations

The study wants to look into the effects of having scheduled social media breaks on
the students who have significant exposure to the internet and experienced toxicity online.
In view of this, it is interesting to know for researchers how individuals deal with a break in
their social media use, assuming a dependency due to an everyday use of those platforms. It
is not known how individuals perceive and undergo a social media detox journey because
the three stages were not explored sufficiently and holistically in previous research. It
would only revolves on tracking and gathering necessary information from people through
survey questionnaires and assess the results through their answers, but the researchers do
not want to hinder anyone who wants to elaborate or continue the research by having a
wider view or exposing in another angle to the study because we know that having multiple
studies to this specific topic would be very beneficial as we could get more and better
results for the benefit of everyone. Thereby, researchers of this work explicitly focus on
intermittent discontinuance in the form of a social media detox on the platforms.