The Impact of Shallow Reading in Social Media

The Short-term and Long-term Impact of Word-picture-based and Short Video-based Shallow Reading Behavior in Social Media

Social media is pervasively used in our life. There is a research hypothesis that the information in social media is "shallow" and the long-term use of it will cause readers' addiction, insomnia, and inability to pay attention, thus reducing the efficiency of learning and working. However, there is no systematic study on the relationship between "shallow reading" in social media and attention, addiction, sleep quality, and other mental health. Therefore, the investigators intend to explore the effect of "shallow reading" in social media on mental health based on about 300 healthy subjects by conducting questionnaire, cognitive scale assessment, multi-mode MRI scanning and EEG monitoring. A cross-sectional study will be combined with a longitudinal study to explore the clinical characteristics its relationship to brain function.

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Mental Health Disorder; Social Media; Brain Imaging
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: smartphone related behaviors

Detailed Description

With the development of social media such as "twitter", "Facebook" and "Microblog", "shallow reading" has gradually become the main way for people to obtain external information and relax. "Shallow reading" is characterized by incomplete and intermittent reading patterns, and readers often "dip into it" without thinking. There is a research hypothesis that the information in social media is "shallow" and the long-term use of it will cause readers' addiction, insomnia, and inability to pay attention, thus reducing the efficiency of learning and working. Some researchers even concern that "shallow reading" is destroying human beings' suspicion spirit, thinking ability and rational thinking which are based on writing and print culture. However, there is no systematic study on the relationship between "shallow reading" and attention or other mental health, not to mention its fMRI and EEG characteristics. Therefore, the investigators intend to explore the effect of "shallow reading" in social media on mental health based on about 300 healthy subjects by conducting questionnaire, cognitive scale assessment, multi-mode MRI scanning and EEG monitoring. A cross-sectional study will be combined with a longitudinal study to better understand both the short-term and long-term effect of "shallow reading" habit to the mental health and imaging characteristics. The collected indexes will be analyzed to explore the clinical characteristics of people with the habit of "shallow reading", and its relationship to mental health, brain imaging characteristics will finally be clarified.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 300
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Guangbin Cui, MD & PhD; Phone Number: 86-29-84777863; Email: cuigbtd@fmmu.edu.cn
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Wen Wang, MD & PhD; Phone Number: 86-29-84778689; Email: wangwen@fmmu.edu.cn

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child; Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Health volunteers
2. Capable to use smartphone

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Participants with a BMI greater than 30 or less than 18.5
2. Any use of cigarettes or alcohol
3. Color blindness
4. Left-handedness
5. With mental or psychiatric disorders
6. With cognitive impairment
7. Has a history of brain trauma
8. Has a family history of psychiatric disorders

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Basic Science
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: The impact of word-picture-based shallow reading in social media; Use Microblog on their smartphone, a word-picture-based social media service similar to twitter.	Behavioral: smartphone related behaviors; Participants are required to watch specific contents on their own smartphones.
Experimental: The impact of short video-based shallow reading in social media; Use Tiktok on their smartphone, a short video-based social media service.	Behavioral: smartphone related behaviors; Participants are required to watch specific contents on their own smartphones.
Active Comparator: The impact of full-length sci-fi novel reading; Read a full-length sci-fi novel (Three body) on their own smartphone.	Behavioral: smartphone related behaviors; Participants are required to watch specific contents on their own smartphones.
Active Comparator: The impact of film/TV series; Watch a film on their own smartphone.	Behavioral: smartphone related behaviors; Participants are required to watch specific contents on their own smartphones.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Dynamic change of sustained attention from baseline state to after 2 hours of social media use	Continuous performance test (CPT) will be used to assess the difference of sustained attention before and after social media use. minimum: 0 maximum values: 1 Higher scores mean a better outcome.	Baseline state and after 2 hours
Dynamic change of selective attention from baseline state to after 2 hours of social media use	Stroop color word test (SCWT) will be used to assess the difference of selective attention before and after social media use. minimum: 0 maximum values: 1 Higher scores mean a better outcome.	Baseline state and after 2 hours

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Cerebral blood flow changes from baseline state to after 2 hours of social media use	Artery spin labeling (ASL) in MRI will be used to assess the difference of cerebral blood flow before and after social media use.	Baseline state and after 2 hours
Brain functional connectivity changes from baseline state to after 2 hours of social media use	Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) in MRI will be used to assess the difference of functional connectivity before and after social media use.	Baseline state and after 2 hours

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Tang-Du Hospital
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Bo Hu, MD, Department of Radiology, Fourth Military Medical University; Principal Investigator: YuTing Li, MD, Department of Radiology, Fourth Military Medical University; Principal Investigator: JingTing Sun, MD, Department of Radiology, Fourth Military Medical University; Principal Investigator: YuXuan Shang, MD, Department of Radiology, Fourth Military Medical University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Anticipated): October 1, 2022
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): October 1, 2023
• Study Completion (Anticipated): June 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 26, 2021
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 16, 2021
• First Posted (Actual): October 28, 2021

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 31, 2022
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 27, 2022
• Last Verified: October 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Social Media; Brain network; multimodal MRI; Shallow reading
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: 202103129

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: All demographic data, mental state assessments, and imaging data will be available.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: All data will be open for other researchers after 5 years from the completion of data recruitment.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Personal communication
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF; ANALYTIC_CODE; CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No