Brief Social Media 'Detox' Can Improve Mental Health

A weeklong break from social media may ease symptoms of anxiety, depression, and insomnia among young adults, according to new research published in the journal JAMA Network Open. The study tracked 295 volunteers aged 18 to 24 who agreed to dramatically cut back on social media use, reducing their average time on platforms from nearly two hours a day to just half an hour. After the break, participants reported notable improvements in mental health: anxiety symptoms fell by 16%, depression by 25%, and insomnia by 14%.

The improvements were most pronounced among those who started with more severe symptoms. However, the study did not find any change in reported loneliness, which researchers suggest could be because social media still serves a meaningful social function for many young people. Experts caution against reading too much into the findings. "The averages are encouraging, but they definitely don't tell the full story, the variance was just so tremendous," says co-author Dr. John Torous of Harvard Medical School.

The study participants were already in relatively good mental health and volunteered for the "detox," which may have influenced the results. Participants were paid $150. Torous, a psychiatrist, says participants generally had little trouble letting go of Facebook and X but it was harder to stop using Instagram, TikTok, and Snapchat, the Times reports. He tells NPR that participants agreed to use an app call MindLAMP to "record information from the phone about your social media use, say, your mobility patterns, your steps, your sleep." After two weeks of tracking normal social media use, 80% of participants agreed to the detox.

The study didn't include a control group, which some outside experts say makes the results less reliable. Some critics argue that participants may have simply reported feeling better because they expected to, and broader reviews of similar "digital detox" studies have found little to no impact on mental health. Others, however, say the new findings add to a growing body of evidence that cutting back on social media can lead to modest improvements in mood and well-being, especially for those who are already struggling.