Study: reducing time on social media reduces anxiety and depression
A short social media withdrawal can make a noticeable difference in your well-being.
A new study published in the journal JAMA Network Open has found that as little as one week of reduced time on social media is enough to reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression and insomnia in young adults.
The experiment involved 295 people aged 18-24 - a group that is both more likely to be on social media and more likely to experience mental health problems.
How the study was conducted
The scientists deliberately moved away from inaccurate "self-reports" where people roughly estimate their screen time. Instead, they used a digital phenotyping approach - participants' smartphones automatically recorded:
app usage time,
GPS data,
accelerometer data,
screen state (on/off).
The scheme was as follows:
2 weeks "before " - baseline period: normal social media use, digital data collection.
1 week of "detox " - participants were asked to minimise activity on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and X (Twitter).
Throughout the three weeks, young people completed short daily surveys about their condition (EMA method - measuring the 'here and now').
On average, social media use decreased from 1.9 hours per day to 0.5 hours. 6.2% of participants completely gave up social media for the week.
What changed over the week
According to participants' self-reports, over the course of the "detox" week, there was on average:
16.1% reduction in anxiety,
24.8% reduction in symptoms of depression,
a14.5% reduction in insomnia symptoms.
That said, the results varied greatly from person to person. An important detail:
those who initially had a "problematic" pattern of social media use - addictive behaviour, compulsive comparisons of themselves with others, "sticking" in the feed - showed the greatest improvement when restricted.
The authors suggest that it's not just about reducing screen time, but reducing the occasions for toxic interactions:
less comparing oneself to "perfect" pictures,
less habit of endless scrolling,
less provocation for compulsive behaviour.
The feeling of loneliness was studied separately - its indicators did not change significantly. A likely explanation: social networks remain an important channel of communication and a sense of belonging to the community.
But there are limitations
The study is not without its weaknesses:
participants voluntarily enrolled themselves in the experiment and could expect a "positive effect" in advance - this creates the risk of a wait-and-see effect;
there was no randomised control group (e.g. people who would have continued to use social media as usual);
no data on long-term effects: whether improvements persist after one month, three months, six months is not yet known.
Nevertheless, the authors believe the results are compelling enough to consider reducing time on social media as a possible element of psychotherapeutic approaches for young people.
"Our findings suggest that reducing social media use by at least one week may improve mental health outcomes in young adults. But the robustness of these effects and the association with specific behaviours require further study," the researchers said.