Can Mindful Self-Compassion Lessen the Impact of Social Media Use on Mental Health?

Social media use is ever increasing, and debates continue as to whether it leads to more harm than good. During the pandemic in particular, social media was a means of connection, but it was also a means of doom scrolling and a source of misinformation, perhaps heightening stress and anxiety (e.g., Gabarron et al., 2021; Geirdal et al., 2021). For this reason, it is important to examine factors that might provide a protective function against such potential negative effects. We examine the role of self-compassion and mindfulness in the relationship between social media use and mental health. Participants were presented with an online survey via Qualtrics containing self-report measures that assess social media use, motivations for using social media, mindfulness, self-compassion, and mental health (depression, anxiety, self-esteem). We found that some aspects of mindfulness and self-compassion moderate the relationship between social media use and mental health. Gender differences across mental health outcomes and across factors predicting mental health were also found. These findings suggest that mindfulness interventions, particularly those that include self-compassion training, may lessen the detrimental effects of social media use on mental health.