An interventional study of Mindfulness and Social Media Reduction in Social Media Addiction, Anxiety and Depression Disorder, sponsored by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-12-17.
Sponsored by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
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).
The objective of this study is to test two cognitive and behavioral interventions designed to reduce social media use and improve psychological constructs related to social media use in a sample of university students. The cognitive intervention is a mindfulness meditation exercise taken from the Calm app focused around gratitude and stress management. Each meditation takes approximately 15 minutes to complete and is to be done daily for two week. The second behavioral intervention is asking participants to reduce social media use for 30 minutes daily for two weeks and replacing that time with physical exercise of the participants' choosing.
Aim 1: Compare psychological constructs related to mental health (well-being, stress, depression, anxiety, loneliness, social comparisons, etc.) before and after conducting two social media use interventions over two weeks, compared to a control condition (no intervention).
Aim 2: Compare self-reported and behavioral (smartphone screenshots of social media use screentime) measures of social media use before and after two social media use interventions over two weeks, compared to a control condition (no intervention).
Aim 3: Examine mental health and social media use one week after the intervention period is complete (3-week follow up) or testing whether the interventions have effects beyond the intervention period.
170 studies on the registry are indexed under Internet Addiction Disorder; 49 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 300 is above the median of 88 across 95 interventional studies indexed under Internet Addiction Disorder.
Browse Internet Addiction Disorder studies →Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the lead sponsor of 364 studies on the registry; 41 are open to participants now.
Of its 5 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 3 (60%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Owning an iPhone or Android smartphone, with frequent use of social media use daily (>
1 hour)
Exclusion Criteria:
Participants will not receive an intervention. Participants will receive instructions to use social media use as usual.
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
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
15 minute daily guided meditation
Reduce social media use at least 30 minutes daily and exercise instead
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.
Change in Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 (DASS-21)
Score range = 0-63, higher score = worse outcome
Time frame: 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
Time frame: 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
Time frame: 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
Time frame: 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.
Time frame: 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
Time frame: baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week
Change in University of California, Los Angeles 3-Item Loneliness Scale
Score range = 3-9, higher score = worse outcome
Time frame: baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week
Change in The Gratitude Questionnaire, 6-item form (GQ-6) scale
Score range = 6-42, lower score = worse outcome
Time frame: baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week
Change in Motivations for Electronic Interaction Scale (MEIS)
Score range = 10-50, higher score = worse outcome
Time frame: baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week
Change in Comprehensive Assessment of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Processes (CompACT-15)
scale Score range = 0-138, lower scores = worse outcome
Time frame: baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week
Change in Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS)
Score range = 6-35, higher score = worse outcome
Time frame: baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week
Change in Fear of Missing Out Scale
Score range = 10-50, higher score = worse outcome
Time frame: baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week
Change in hours spent socializing inperson with peers
Score range = 0-20+ hours of in-person socialization, lower scores = worse outcome
Time frame: baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week
Change in number of evenings of past-week recreation
Score range = 0-7 evenings of recreation, lower scores = worse outcome
Time frame: baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week
Plan to share: Yes — Data and other resources will be shared upon reasonable request.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
Contact study teamGet an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health