Taking time off social media can be good for women's self-esteem

A study by the Faculty of Health at the University of York, in the United Kingdom, proved that women who do a pause in the use of social media have a significant improvement in terms of self-esteem and body image . The result comes from the reduction in comparison between bodies through publications and the use of free time in other activities, considered healthier.

Half of the participants were asked to go without social media for a week, including Facebook, Twitter and TikTok, and the other part was used as a control group. The authors hope the results will be used to protect young people and influence social media companies to offer more autonomy to users.

The results were published in scientific magazine “Body Image”.

The research participants were 66 female students who were in their first year of college. With them, questionnaires were carried out before the experiment to be used as a basis and, at the end of the week, the participants were tested again.

Jennifer Mills, professor of psychology and co-author of the article, noted that since she began researching eating disorders and the effects of the media on women, the scenario has changed.

“Back then, you could only spend a few minutes or hours looking at fashion and beauty magazines and they only came out once a month. There was a finite amount of content you would be exposed to. With social media it’s infinite. It’s always new and innovative, which triggers our brain’s reward system that makes us want something more and more,” Mills said.

The group came to the conclusion that using time outside of social networks for other activities also helped to increase the participants' self-esteem. “If we spend more time in real life, socializing with friends, sleeping, leaving the house, exercising, there may be secondary behaviors that fill the void left by social networks,” said the teacher.