Do this one thing and you will increase your productivity at work

German scientists conducted an experimental study involving over 150 full- and part-time workers. All volunteers spent at least 35 minutes a day using social media, and this activity was unrelated to their professional duties. The employees were divided into groups. The former did not change their habits when it comes to using social media. The second one reduced the time spent on Facebook, Instagram and other platforms by 30 minutes for seven days.

Experiment participants completed questionnaires. They did it three times – the first time before the study, the second time 24 hours after its start, and the third time – a week after completing all procedures. The questions in the surveys concerned:

• job satisfaction,

• involvement in the tasks performed,

• burden of responsibilities, perceived stress,

• mental health condition,

• FOMO syndrome (fear of what we miss when we are offline),

• behaviors indicating addiction to social media.

Social media and job satisfaction

Scientists suspect that people tend to treat social media as a trigger of positive emotions that they lack every day at work, especially when they feel overworked. Using social media platforms can actually improve your mood, but the effect is short-lived. Using online platforms for a long time may lead to addiction and worsen a person’s mental and physical condition.

Research conducted by German experts confirmed that reducing the time spent using social media has a beneficial effect on employees. “Even after this short period of time, we found that the group that spent less time on social media reported greater job satisfaction. Their mental health has also improved,” noted Julia Brailovskaia. Limiting activity on Facebook or Instagram was associated with greater commitment to performing work duties and a decrease in the severity of the FOMO syndrome. These effects lasted for at least a week after the experiment ended. Interestingly, employees who reduced the amount of time they spent using social media for the study did not change their habits after returning to “normality.”

Social media and performance at work

Scientists emphasize that using social media at work negatively affects our productivity. Social media distracts us, making us unable to perform our duties effectively. The human brain does not cope well with constant distraction from a task. Additionally, time spent on social media can make it harder for people to interact with co-workers in real life, ultimately leading to alienation. Reducing the time you use Facebook or Instagram can be a useful coaching and therapeutic tool.