Social media interventions to improve wellbeing
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Concerns about the negative impact of social media on wellbeing have surged, particularly for adolescents who may have heightened susceptibility to social media’s adverse effects. In response, there is a growing interest in developing social media interventions, which aim to change users’ interactions with social media to improve wellbeing. Despite the potential for interventions to advance causal knowledge of social media’s effects and mitigate potential wellbeing harms, academic research on these interventions remains scarce. In this paper we review the landscape of social media interventions, categorising them by the context in which they intervene: social media platforms, smartphones, users, families, and society. In doing so, we highlight important limitations of current research and intervention designs. To improve how we study and develop social media interventions in future, we introduce a theoretically-grounded framework to assist in choosing intervention targets and designs. Specifically, by evaluating how social media use impacts core psychological needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness as proposed by self-determination theory, and developing interventions to specifically target such processes, we can maximise effectiveness of future interventions particularly for vulnerable populations such as adolescents. With increasing calls for interventions to be developed to improve adolescent mental health and counteract social media risks, this robust foundation will be widely relevant for future research in both academia and industry, with direct practical applications to enhance wellbeing in our increasingly digital age.
