The Research Desk
Scientists at Southeast University found that gratitude and emotion regulation can reduce social media addiction.
Reciprocal links among gratitude, emotion regulation, and social media addiction: A positive psychology framework.
- Gratitude
- Engagement
Zhang, M., Hui, B., Zhang, H., Xu, W., Wu, A.
In plain language
This study delves into the relationship between gratitude, emotion regulation, and social media addiction (SMA) from a positive psychology standpoint. By surveying 660 individuals over six months, researchers found that gratitude and emotion regulation can help reduce tendencies toward SMA. The study highlights the potential of these positive psychological traits as preventive measures against the addictive use of social media.
The research also found that while gratitude and emotion regulation can lower SMA, the reverse is also true: high levels of social media addiction can diminish these positive traits over time. This bidirectional relationship underscores the importance of fostering gratitude and emotion regulation to maintain healthy social media use.
Key findings
- Gratitude and emotion regulation are negatively correlated with social media addiction.
- Higher levels of gratitude and emotion regulation at the start predicted lower social media addiction six months later.
- Initial social media addiction levels predicted decreases in gratitude and emotion regulation over time.
- Emotion regulation at the start predicted higher gratitude later, but not vice versa.
Why it matters
This research is crucial as it identifies gratitude and emotion regulation as tools to combat social media addiction, a growing concern in today's digital age.
Try this today
Readers can actively practice gratitude and work on emotion regulation techniques to potentially reduce their risk of developing problematic social media habits.