Study Shows One-Week Social Media Break Improves Mental Health

A recent study published in JAMA Network Open reveals that even a one-week break from social media can significantly enhance mental health among young adults. The research, involving nearly four hundred participants aged eighteen to twenty-four, tracked social media usage through an app that monitored their screen time, steps, sleep, and other baseline metrics.

After two weeks, participants completed questionnaires assessing their levels of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and insomnia. Approximately eighty percent of the participants decided to undertake a one-week social media detox, while still using their smartphones for non-social media activities.

During this detox period, their social media usage plummeted from about two hours a day to around thirty minutes. Notably, participants found it easier to detach from platforms like Facebook and X compared to TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat.

The findings highlighted a marked decline in mental health issues, with symptoms of depression decreasing by twenty-four percent, anxiety by sixteen percent, and insomnia by fourteen percent. Mitchell Prinstein, chief of psychology strategy and integration for the American Psychological Association, emphasized the significance of these results, stating that such reductions typically require eight to twelve weeks of intensive psychotherapy.

The study adds to ongoing discussions regarding the potential harms of smartphone use, especially concerning adolescent mental health. Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy previously advocated for warning labels on social media platforms due to their impact on young users.

However, some researchers caution that the link between social media use and mental health issues is not entirely straightforward. The study did not include a control group of participants who continued their usual social media habits, raising questions about the validity of the results.

Candice Odgers, a professor of psychological science at the University of California, expressed concerns that framing social media as detrimental could influence participants' self-reported feelings during the detox.

Nonetheless, Dr. John Torous, one of the study's co-authors and an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, suggested that a social media detox could complement other mental health treatments, encouraging individuals struggling with mental health conditions to explore whether reduced social media use improves their well-being.