Researchers spent a full year following the phone habits of hundreds of young adults to understand what really changes when they take a short break from major social platforms.
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, tracked 373 people at the start, and 295 continued long enough to complete a one week detox from Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and X. Their phones supplied continuous sensing data, so almost every shift in daily behavior appeared in the dataset without needing anyone to recall their usage.
Social media use fell sharply during the detox. The average dropped from about two hours a day to half an hour. That sounds like a major cut, and by the raw numbers it is, yet nothing in the rest of their behavior moved in the same way. Overall daily phone use barely changed. The average difference added up to roughly fifteen seconds per day, which sits so close to normal variation that it blends into it. Some people might have long days with heavy phone use, and the next day barely touch it, so that fifteen second shift stayed small in context.
A similar pattern appeared in how much time people spent at home. The number increased by about forty three minutes per day. The study also recorded location changes and movement, but none of those measures showed a clear shift. The detox did not lead to more walking, more outings or any major change in how far people traveled. Time freed from social apps mostly moved to other digital activities on the same device.
Not all platforms carried the same weight. Instagram held on the strongest, with about two thirds of participants continuing to use it during the detox. Snapchat followed. Facebook and X were easier to avoid, and TikTok showed a notable drop too. The difference between platforms appeared tied to how much direct communication they support, which tends to hold people more tightly.
Mental health scores moved more than everything else. Symptoms linked to depression fell by about twenty five percent. Anxiety symptoms dropped around sixteen percent and insomnia improved by roughly fourteen percent. People with higher initial symptoms saw the largest benefits. Loneliness did not shift, which made sense given how much young adults rely on digital platforms to maintain social ties, even when those platforms create strain.
The study’s limits mattered because the group leaned heavily toward female college students who mostly used iPhones, and the design lacked a control group. Despite that, the findings pointed to a simple pattern. A short break from social apps eased emotional strain, yet core daily routines and overall phone habits stayed almost exactly where they were.
Notes: This post was drafted with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed, edited, and published by humans. Image: unsplash/Jonas Leupe
Read next:
The study, published in JAMA Network Open, tracked 373 people at the start, and 295 continued long enough to complete a one week detox from Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and X. Their phones supplied continuous sensing data, so almost every shift in daily behavior appeared in the dataset without needing anyone to recall their usage.
Social media use fell sharply during the detox. The average dropped from about two hours a day to half an hour. That sounds like a major cut, and by the raw numbers it is, yet nothing in the rest of their behavior moved in the same way. Overall daily phone use barely changed. The average difference added up to roughly fifteen seconds per day, which sits so close to normal variation that it blends into it. Some people might have long days with heavy phone use, and the next day barely touch it, so that fifteen second shift stayed small in context.
A similar pattern appeared in how much time people spent at home. The number increased by about forty three minutes per day. The study also recorded location changes and movement, but none of those measures showed a clear shift. The detox did not lead to more walking, more outings or any major change in how far people traveled. Time freed from social apps mostly moved to other digital activities on the same device.
Not all platforms carried the same weight. Instagram held on the strongest, with about two thirds of participants continuing to use it during the detox. Snapchat followed. Facebook and X were easier to avoid, and TikTok showed a notable drop too. The difference between platforms appeared tied to how much direct communication they support, which tends to hold people more tightly.
Mental health scores moved more than everything else. Symptoms linked to depression fell by about twenty five percent. Anxiety symptoms dropped around sixteen percent and insomnia improved by roughly fourteen percent. People with higher initial symptoms saw the largest benefits. Loneliness did not shift, which made sense given how much young adults rely on digital platforms to maintain social ties, even when those platforms create strain.
The study’s limits mattered because the group leaned heavily toward female college students who mostly used iPhones, and the design lacked a control group. Despite that, the findings pointed to a simple pattern. A short break from social apps eased emotional strain, yet core daily routines and overall phone habits stayed almost exactly where they were.
Notes: This post was drafted with the assistance of AI tools and reviewed, edited, and published by humans. Image: unsplash/Jonas Leupe
Read next:
