Teens who cut their social media use in half see improvements in body image in just a MONTH

Teens who cut their social media use in half see improvements in body image within a month, a study suggests.

Young people in the UK spend hours each day looking at screens, much of it scrolling through Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

Now researchers have found that reducing the amount of time spent on social media can improve how they feel about both their weight and how they look.

A team from the Eastern Ontario Research Institute conducted a study of 220 teens and young adults who spent at least two hours a day on their phones.

The cohort, aged between 17 and 25, also had symptoms of depression or anxiety.

Participants were asked to respond to a series of statements about their overall appearance and weight, then completed a similar questionnaire at the end of the experiment.

During the first week of the study, participants were told to use their social media as they normally would.

Then half were instructed to try to reduce their social media use to no more than 60 minutes a day.

Over the next three weeks, those instructed to limit their social media use reduced it by about 50 percent to an average of 78 minutes per day.

Meanwhile, the control group, who were told to use it normally, were online for more than three hours a day on average.

Analysis, published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media, revealed that those who reduced their time on social media had a “significant improvement” in how they viewed both their overall appearance and body weight.

However, the control group registered no significant change.

Lead author Gary Goldfield said: ‘Adolescence is a vulnerable period for the development of body image problems, eating disorders and mental illness.

‘Young people spend an average of six to eight hours a day on screens, a large part of which on social media.

“Social media can expose users every day to hundreds or even thousands of images and photos, including those of celebrities and fashion or fitness models, which we know lead to an internalization of ideals of beauty that are out of reach for almost everyone, resulting in a greater dissatisfaction with body weight and shape.’

The researchers said reducing social media use could be one way to have a short-term positive effect on the body image of vulnerable young people.

“Our brief four-week intervention using screentime trackers showed that reducing social media use produced significant improvements in appearance and weight rating in distressed youth with heavy social media use,” added Dr. Goldfield to it.

Young people in the UK spend hours each day looking at screens, much of it scrolling through Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat (stock image)