What’s your average screen time? ⏳
You may have seen bold claims about the benefits of a “social media detox”. But the results are mixed. Some studies show small improvements in depression, anxiety, well-being, and sleep quality during the detox (2,7,20-23). Others show reduced well-being and life satisfaction, increased boredom and loneliness, or no change at all (2,19,20,24,25). There is limited evidence that positive changes last longer than the detox period (2,23,26).
Like most healthy habits, reshaping your relationship with your phone takes time and effort.
Sources
- The Associations Between Screen Time and Mental Health in Adults: A Systematic Review | Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science | 17 February 2024
- Taking a Break: The Effects of Partaking in a Two-Week Social Media Digital Detox on Problematic Smartphone and Social Media Use, and Other Health-Related Outcomes among Young Adults | Behavioral Sciences | December 2023
- Does social media use make us happy? A meta-analysis on social media and positive well-being outcomes | SSM – Mental Health | December 2024
- Planning a digital detox: Findings from a randomized controlled trial to reduce smartphone usage time | Computers in Human Behavior | July 2025
- The Ubiquity of the Screen: An Overview of the Risks and Benefits of Screen Time in Our Modern World | Translational Journal of the ACSM | 1 September 2017
- Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines for Adults aged 18–64 years and Adults aged 65 years or older: an integration of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep | Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism | 15 October 2020
- Digital Detoxes Work. How Reduced Screen Time Will Help You | Georgetown University | 10 November 2025
- To detox or not to detox? The impact of different approaches to social media detox strategies on body image and wellbeing | Body Image | March 2025
- Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity | Journal of the Association for Consumer Research | April 2017
- Genuinely useful ways to decrease phone addiction | AsapSCIENCE | 3 December 2025
- 6 Tips to Help Take Control of Your Social Media Use and Improve Well-being | American Psychiatric Association | 11 February 2022
- Batching smartphone notifications can improve well-being | Computers in Human Behavior | December 2019
- Digital Slot Machines: Social Media Platforms as Attentional Scaffolds | Topoi | 2 March 2024
- Understanding Social Media Addiction: A Deep Dive | Cureus | October 2024
- True colors: Grayscale setting reduces screen time in college students | The Social Science Journal | 3 July 2019
- Tips for reducing screen time (and why that might be a good idea) | American Heart Association | 29 February 2024
- Attitudes, Habits, and Behavior Change | Annual Review of Psychology | 2022
- People are increasingly bored in our digital age | Communications Psychology | November 2024
- The effects of social media abstinence on affective well-being and life satisfaction: a systematic review and meta-analysis | Scientific Reports | 4 March 2025
- Am I Happier Without You? Social Media Detox and Well-Being: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials | Behavioral Sciences | 28 February 2025
- Impacts of digital social media detox for mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis | Narra J | August 2024
- Out of the loop: Taking a one-week break from social media leads to better self-esteem and body image among young women | Body Image | June 2024
- Smartphone screen time reduction improves mental health: a randomized controlled trial | BMC Medicine | February 2025
- Digital detox: An effective solution in the smartphone era? A systematic literature review | Mobile Media & Communication | 15 July 2021
- Does Taking a Short Break from Social Media Have a Positive Effect on Well-being? Evidence from Three Preregistered Field Experiments | Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science | 7 February 2021
- Social Media Detox: Relapse Predictors | Psychiatry Research | July 2019
Share our original Bluesky Post!
View our original Instagram Post!
