(MENAFN- The Peninsula) fazeena saleem |
The Peninsula
Impact on time, distorted values, health and well-being, or an instigating incident are the main reasons for people to deactivate or quit social media, a local study has found.
Majority of respondents to the study - 'Deactivated: Exploring why adults in Qatar quit social media' - identified their health and well-being as key factors in their choice to deactivate social media accounts temporarily.
The study by Ghenwa Yehia and Karen McIntyre published in Qscience has investigated factors that influence adults aged 25–55 in Qatar to deactivate one or more social media accounts. The respondents to the study are from different nationalities, mainly expatriates living in Doha.
It also explored the most prominent factors such as behavioural capability, observational learning, reinforcements, expectations, and self-efficacy that support an individual's discontinuous social media use.
Initially 279 recruitment messages have been sent to potential respondents but after different levels of screening 26 participants were interviewed for the study.
All of the respondents have made either direct or indirect references to the impact that social media use had on time as a contributing factor to deactivation.
The study said that many people described how their social media use was nothing more than“mindless scrolling” and“a complete waste of time.”
Some 58% of respondents identified their mental or physical health and well-being as key factors in their decision to deactivate.
“Respondents' health-related grievances ranged from an increase in negative feelings - social comparison, stress, anxiety, insomnia, and panic attacks after excessive social media use to headaches, eye strain, shoulder pain, finger pain, back pain, and heart palpitations,” the study revealed.
About 65% of respondents had clear expectations that deactivation from social media would be a positive choice that they would greatly benefit from.
However, none of the male respondents have cited mental well-being issues as the reason to deactivation. Some 38% identified a key external event that leads their deactivation from social media use. It ranged from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic; the murder of George Floyd to the death of immediate family member or the holidays.
Another factor contributing to deactivation was that social media lost its value in terms of the initial reasons a respondent signed up for.
One respondent said,“I had been a very active user, especially when I first moved to Qatar (I'm from the United States). So, my family wanted to know if I was okay. So, I posted almost daily and then within the past two years, I didn't feel obligated to post what's going on in my life over here because I figured if you are calling me, you will know. (Recently) I've been kind of mindlessly scrolling. So what's the point of being on it anymore?”
Majority of respondents to the study have defined their deactivation as more of a planned, extended break from the social media network that they had grievances with.
“All of the respondents have identified as having deactivated one or more social media apps, interestingly, only three remained completely deactivated from the social media network they had identified as one they cut off,” said the study.
Other respondents have reactivated the social media accounts later.
“Interestingly, many respondents described a cyclical-type use of social media, and not complete and total deactivation, where they would decide to deactivate based on the factors mentioned above, and then they would reactivate for various reasons,” it added.