Testing a balanced social networking site diet

: its impact on anxiety and stress

Abstract

Current research on the effects of SNS usage provides mixed evidence, pointing to positive or negative outcomes while neglecting an integrated perspective. This points to the need to holistically investigate the effects of SNS use to identify a healthy level of SNS use. The present study considered the consequences of SNS use holistically, examining how an SNS diet affects anxiety, stress, and well-being. The variables were measured using an online questionnaire before, during and after a two-week experiment with a sample of 18 participants. Results showed that adherence to the newly developed SNS diet had a measurable, significant effect on reducing anxiety, social comparisons and benign envy. No significant effect was found on perceived stress, malicious envy or social anxiety, and the study failed to find significant improvements in subjective and psychological well-being. Several hypotheses remained unsupported due to the small sample size and lack of assumption of normal distribution. However, assessing the participants’ qualitative feedback provided insights into individual improvements in well-being, revealing the potential of conscious processing and self-awareness in mitigating the unfavourable outcomes of SNS usage. Future studies are needed to replicate and validate the findings on a larger scale and to overcome its limitations. Overall, the findings strongly imply that adhering to the SNS diet proved to bean effective tool for counteracting and even reducing the negative effects that the use of SNSs may heighten.

Date of Award	24 Feb 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Jessica Roberts (Supervisor) & Patrícia Dias (Co-Supervisor)