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

Launched by JOHNS HOPKINS BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH · Jul 25, 2025

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is studying how different activities might help college students who spend a lot of time on social media feel better and improve their well-being. Specifically, the study will look at whether practicing mindfulness meditation or replacing social media time with exercise can reduce social media use and improve feelings of anxiety, depression, and overall mental health. About 300 Johns Hopkins University students who use social media for more than an hour each day and exercise one hour or less daily will take part.

If you join the study, you’ll be randomly assigned to one of three groups: no intervention (control), mindfulness meditation, or social media reduction combined with exercise. You’ll be asked to do your assigned activities every day for two weeks. The researchers will check in three times—before starting, right after the two weeks, and one week later—to see how your social media habits and mental well-being may have changed. Participants need to own a smartphone and share some information about their phone use, like how often they pick up their phone and how much time they spend on it. This study is not yet recruiting, but it’s a great opportunity for students interested in improving their mental health and managing social media use.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • The participant is 18 or older.
• • The participant must be a Johns Hopkins University student.
• • Owning an iPhone or Android smartphone, with frequent use of social media use daily (\>
• • 1 hour)
• • Enabling and sharing screenshots of the participant's smartphone use metrics, including number of last-week pickups, notifications received, and average screen time.
• • Providing consent to participate.
• • Only exercising 1 hour or less daily, on average.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • younger than 18
• • Not a Johns Hopkins University Student
• • Doesn't own a smart phone
• • Uses smartphone less than 1 hour daily
• • Exercises more than 1 hour daily