Does Quitting Social Media Improve Mental Health?
By Max Ward, co-founder of DisConnect ·
Short answer: for most people, a bit, yes. In the largest randomized test so far, adults who deactivated Facebook for four weeks reported higher well-being, spent more time offline with friends and family, and kept using Facebook less after the experiment ended. You don't have to delete your accounts to find out if it works for you. A few weeks with the apps locked away is a fair trial.
What did the big Facebook study find?
In 2018, a team of economists paid a randomly chosen group of US Facebook users to deactivate their accounts for the four weeks before the midterm elections, and compared them with users who kept scrolling. Published in the American Economic Review in 2020, the results were consistent:
- Well-being went up. The deactivated group reported higher subjective well-being.
- Time moved offline. Online activity dropped, and offline activity rose, including time with friends and family (and, to be fair, some TV alone).
- The habit weakened. After the experiment, people who had quit used Facebook a lot less and valued it less.
- There was a trade-off. They knew a little less about the news, and were also less politically polarized.
The well-being boost was real but modest. Quitting isn't a cure for anything. It's a small, reliable nudge in the right direction.
Is it social media, or the whole phone?
Probably both. A 2025 randomized trial in PNAS Nexus went further and blocked all mobile internet on people's iPhones for two weeks, while calls and texts kept working. Mental health, well-being and attention all improved, and 91% of participants improved on at least one measure. What that study found about attention.
Why does it feel so hard to quit?
Because the feeds are built to keep you there, and quitting cold turkey asks willpower to beat an engineering team. That's why so many people delete Instagram on Sunday and reinstall it by Wednesday. It's not a character flaw.
How do you test it without deleting everything?
- Pick the apps. Usually two or three do most of the damage. Messaging isn't the problem; keep it.
- Block, don't just log out. A logout is one password away. A Screen Time limit is one tap away. How to block apps so you can't unblock them.
- Run it for four weeks. That's the length of the Facebook study, and long enough to get past the first itchy week.
- Write down sleep, mood and focus before and after. Decide based on that, not on how much you miss the feed on day three.
More on the doomscrolling side of this: what doomscrolling does to your head.
Where does DisConnect fit?
The DisConnect Card is a physical NFC card that works with the free DisConnect app for iPhone. Choose the social apps, tap the card to block them, and they stay blocked until you tap the card again. Leave it in a drawer for four weeks and you've run your own version of the experiment without deleting a thing.
Quit the feed, keep your accounts. The DisConnect Card is $39 one-time, needs no battery, and works with the free DisConnect app for iPhone. 30-day money-back guarantee.
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Questions people ask
Does quitting social media improve mental health?
For most people, modestly, yes. In a randomized study, adults who deactivated Facebook for four weeks reported higher well-being and spent more time offline with friends and family.
How long should I quit social media to notice a difference?
The largest study used four weeks. A 2025 trial that blocked mobile internet saw improvements in two weeks. Two to four weeks is a fair test.
Do I have to delete my accounts?
No. Blocking the apps for a few weeks gives you the same test without losing your accounts, photos or contacts.
