Social media and anxiety: a physiological and behavioral study

• Grant number: 21/10466-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2021
• End date: October 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - General Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Elisa Harumi Kozasa
• Grantee: Júlia Loripe Guimarães
• Host Institution: Instituto Israelita de Ensino e Pesquisa Albert Einstein (IIEPAE). Sociedade Beneficente Israelita Brasileira Albert Einstein (SBIBAE). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Smartphone and social media use has been growing exponentially in Brazil. Using technology to constantly search for information or to always be "up to date" can lead to "information anxiety". Depression, anxiety, reduced sleep quality, inhibitory control deficits, and changes in brain activity and connectivity may be associated with problematic use of smartphones. On the other hand, meditation-based interventions can increase self-control and emotional regulation. Objectives: to evaluate how much anxiety in accessing WhatsApp may be associated with other mental health symptoms; to evaluate the effects of meditation-based training and emotional regulation on these symptoms; to evaluate the psychophysiological responses of participants using WhatsApp in an ecological experiment, in which individuals will be in moments with and without access to the smartphone. Methods: We will evaluate individuals who report having and not having anxiety in accessing WhatsApp through questionnaires and scales of symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, mental disorders, attention and awareness, smartphone and WhatsApp dependence. That reporting anxiety will be randomized into a group that will receive the meditation-based intervention and a waiting list group and will be reassessed after 8 weeks. In addition to answering the questionnaires, participants will be monitored by electroencephalogram (EEG), near-infrared functional spectroscopy (fNIRS) electrodermal response (RED), electrocardiogram (EKG), respiratory rate (RF), and eye-tracking (ET) to understand the mechanism surrounding anxiety and symptoms of problematic use of the smartphone. (AU)