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

Part of paid clinical trials in Baltimore, Maryland.

Sponsor
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Study ID
NCT07097545
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Anxiety
  • Depression Disorder
  • Social Media Addiction
  • Wellbeing

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - N/A
Healthy Volunteers
Accepted

Interventions

  • Mindfulness — BEHAVIORAL
    15 minute daily guided meditation
  • Social Media Reduction — BEHAVIORAL
    Reduce social media use at least 30 minutes daily and exercise instead
  • 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.

Study Details

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).

Key Dates

Start date
Aug 24, 2025
Status verified
Dec 2025
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2026
Completion
Jan 31, 2027

Study Design

Enrollment
300 participants (estimated)
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
TREATMENT

Arms

  • No Intervention: Control
    Participants will not receive an intervention. Participants will receive instructions to use social media use as usual.
  • Experimental: Mindfulness
    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.
  • Experimental: Social Media Reduction + Exercise
    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.

Primary Outcome Measure

Change in Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 (DASS-21) [ Time Frame: baseline, immediately post intervention, post intervention up to one week ]

Central Contacts

Locations (1)

FacilityCityStateZIPSite coordinators
Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreMaryland21218-

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By research site
Johns Hopkins University· Baltimore, MD

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