A week without social media significantly improves mental health

In order to get the most objective results, experts abandoned the usual surveys, where participants themselves estimate how much time they spend on the phone. Instead, they used “digital phenotyping”: smartphones automatically recorded time spent in apps, movements, screen activity, and other parameters. Thus, it was possible to determine exactly how the habits of the participants changed.

Instagram Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, and X were then detoxed for the first two weeks, and the participants were asked to minimize their use of Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, and X for seven days. During this time, the average daily time on social media has decreased almost fourfold — from 1.9 to 0.5 hours. Six percent of the volunteers completely abandoned social media for the whole week.

The results were impressive: anxiety decreased by an average of 16%, depressive symptoms — by almost 25%, and sleep problems — by 14.5%. A particularly strong effect was noticed among those who, even before the experiment, used social networks in a problematic way — they spent too much time in applications, often compared themselves with others or experienced dependent behavior. It was this category that showed the most pronounced improvements.

Interestingly, the level of loneliness has not changed. The authors suggest that social media does help keep in touch with others, so limiting it doesn’t make people more lonely.

Scientists emphasize that the study has limitations: the participants themselves wanted to try detox, which means they could expect improvements in advance. There was also no control group and no long-term follow-up. Nevertheless, the data show that even a short-term decrease in social media activity can be a useful part of complex therapy and mental health maintenance in young people.