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

April 4, 2024 updated by: Amber Sousa, New York Institute of Technology
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.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

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.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

50

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • United States
    • New York
      • Old Westbury, New York, United States, 11568
        • Recruiting
        • NYIT
        • Contact:

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

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

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: 1: Social Media Abstention
People in this arm will be encouraged to disable social media and not use social media for one week.
Behavioral: Social Media Abstention
People will stop or reduce their social media use for one week.
No Intervention: 2: Control
People in this group will continue their normal behavior in regard to social media use.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Inquisit Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART)
Time Frame: through study completion, an average of one week
A 6-minute computerized measure of attention.
through study completion, an average of one week

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Inquisit Stroop Test
Time Frame: through study completion, an average of one week
A 5-minute measure of executive functions.
through study completion, an average of one week
Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale
Time Frame: through study completion, an average of one week
A self-report measure of general wellbeing
through study completion, an average of one week

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

New York Institute of Technology

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

August 29, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

August 31, 2024

Study Completion (Estimated)

August 31, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 24, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 28, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

November 2, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 5, 2024

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 4, 2024

Last Verified

April 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • BHS-1894

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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