Change in Social Media Use and Well-being Among College Students Receiving a Two-week Exercise or Mindfulness Intervention

NCT07097545 | Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: IRB00025926-RCT2
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 300
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The investigators will be randomizing 300 college student participants with high levels of social media use into either a 1) control condition (no intervention), a 2) mindfulness meditation cognitive intervention, or 3) a social media reduction + exercise replacement intervention. Participants complete intervention activities daily for two weeks. The investigators will collect self-report and behavioral measures of social media use and related psychological constructs at three time points: baseline, immediately after the intervention period, and one-week after the intervention period (three weeks from baseline).

Conditions

Anxiety; Depression Disorder; Wellbeing; Social Media Addiction

Keywords

digital media reduction intervention; mindfulness; behavioral intervention; digital wellbeing

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (6)

• Change in Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 (DASS-21)

  Score range = 0-63, higher score = worse outcome

  baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

• Change in World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQoLBREF) scale

  Score range = 13-65, lower score = worse outcome

  baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

• Change in smartphone screen time (minutes) for social media use

  Past-week amount of screen time for social media use

  baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

• Change in number of social media use smartphone pick-ups

  Past-week total number of smartphone pickups for social media use applications

  baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

• Change in percent of time using social media

  Past-week percent of time using social media compared to other smartphone application categories.

  baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

• Change in social media use notifications received

  Past-week total number of notifications received for social media use applications

  baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

Secondary Outcomes (8)

• Change in University of California, Los Angeles 3-Item Loneliness Scale

  baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

• Change in The Gratitude Questionnaire, 6-item form (GQ-6) scale

  baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

• Change in Motivations for Electronic Interaction Scale (MEIS)

  baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

• Change in Comprehensive Assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Processes (CompACT-15)

  baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

• Change in Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS)

  baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week

Study Arms (3)

Control

NO INTERVENTION

Participants will not receive an intervention. Participants will receive instructions to use social media use as usual.

Mindfulness

EXPERIMENTAL

Approximately 15 minute mindfulness style meditations will be completed daily for two weeks through the Calm platform. Participants can listen to the exercise on the web-enabled version of Calm, or through the smartphone app. The first course is entitled "7 Days of Gratitude" and centers around noticing and appreciating things in daily life, the second course is entitled "7 Days of managing stress" that focuses on building awareness and coping with that specific area of mental stress, such as de-escalating stress, mind-body connection, strong emotions, negative self-talk, and how events are interpreted.

Behavioral: Mindfulness

Social Media Reduction + Exercise

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will reduce social media use by at least 30 minutes daily for two weeks. Simultaneously, participants will exercise at least 30 minutes daily. Participants are given examples of common exercises (walking, yoga, strength training, etc.), but are allowed to choose any type, although dissuaded from activities with high potential for injury.

Behavioral: Social Media Reduction; Behavioral: Exercise

Interventions

Mindfulness BEHAVIORAL

15 minute daily guided meditation

Mindfulness

Social Media Reduction BEHAVIORAL

Reduce social media use at least 30 minutes daily and exercise instead

Social Media Reduction + Exercise

Exercise BEHAVIORAL

Participants will exercise at least 30 minutes daily. Participants are given examples of common exercises (walking, yoga, strength training, etc.), but are allowed to choose any type, although dissuaded from activities with high potential for injury.

Social Media Reduction + Exercise

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• The participant is 18 or older.
• The participant must be a Johns Hopkins University student.
• Owning an iPhone or Android smartphone, with frequent use of social media use daily (\>
• hour)
• Enabling and sharing screenshots of the participant's smartphone use metrics, including number of last-week pickups, notifications received, and average screen time.
• Providing consent to participate.
• Only exercising 1 hour or less daily, on average.

You may not qualify if:

• younger than 18
• Not a Johns Hopkins University Student
• Doesn't own a smart phone
• Uses smartphone less than 1 hour daily
• Exercises more than 1 hour daily

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: lead

Study Sites (1)

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, Maryland, 21218, United States

RECRUITING

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Internet Addiction Disorder; Anxiety Disorders

Interventions

Mindfulness; Exercise

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Technology Addiction; Behavior, Addictive; Compulsive Behavior; Impulsive Behavior; Behavior; Mental Disorders

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; Behavior Therapy; Psychotherapy; Behavioral Disciplines and Activities; Motor Activity; Movement; Musculoskeletal Physiological Phenomena; Musculoskeletal and Neural Physiological Phenomena

Study Officials

• Johannes Thrul, PhD

  Johns Hopkins University

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Johannes Thrul, PhD

CONTACT

(443) 318-6633‬; jthrul@jhu.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Masking Details: Both participants and investigators will know which intervention group each participant has been randomized into.
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: Three groups of 1) no intervention, 2) mindfulness, or 3) social media reduction + exercise replacement intervention arms

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 25, 2025
• First Posted: July 31, 2025
• Study Start: August 24, 2025
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 1, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): January 1, 2027
• Last Updated: December 17, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share

Locations

US (1)