A study carried out by the University of Bath found that participants who took a week off from social media showed an improved overall level of well-being.
The time that would have been spent scrolling through social media platforms amounted to nine hours of the week for certain participants.
The study, which was called Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking suggested that in the future, a week away from social media could be used as a way to help people manage their mental health.
In the study, 154 individuals aged 18 to 72 were randomly allocated into either an intervention group where they would not use social media, or a control group where they would use social media as normal.
Those in the intervention group appeared to show improved mental wellbeing.
The study's conclusion states "The present study shows that asking people to take a 1-week break from SM can lead to significant improvements in well-being, depression, and anxiety."
Dr Jeff Lambert, a lead researcher from Bath’s Department for Health said on the study: “Scrolling social media is so ubiquitous that many of us do it almost without thinking from the moment we wake up to when we close our eyes at night.
"We know that social media usage is huge and that there are increasing concerns about its mental health effects, so with this study, we wanted to see whether simply asking people to take a week’s break could yield mental health benefits."
The number of adults using social media in the UK increased from 45% to 71% between 2011 and 2021.
The researchers are now looking to find out how taking a break can help different population groups such as 'younger people or people with physical and mental health conditions'.
They also want to see what the effects are like when a break is longer than one week to see if the benefits could last over time.
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
