Social Media Detox and Youth Mental Health.

IMPORTANCE

The association between social media use and youth mental health remains poorly understood, with recent systematic reviews reporting inconsistent and conflicting findings. These discrepancies reflect the overreliance on self-reported estimates of use, lack of passive monitoring of behavior, and limited measurement of momentary mental health states.

OBJECTIVES

To examine the association between objective social media use, problematic engagement, and mental health outcomes in young adults, as well as evaluate the outcomes of a 1-week social media detox intervention on behavior and mental health symptoms.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND

PARTICIPANTS

A remote cohort study conducted in the US using a national recruitment registry between March 2024 and March 2025, where participants completed a 2-week observational baseline, followed by an optional 1-week social media detox intervention. Participants were young adults (aged 18-24 years) with a smartphone and English fluency.

EXPOSURES: Social media use of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and X over a 2-week baseline period, followed by an optional 1-week detox intervention.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The main outcomes were detox changes in symptoms of depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9), anxiety (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7), insomnia (Insomnia Severity Index), and loneliness (University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale), as well as within-participant changes in behavior including screen use, communication, mobility, and momentary mental health states.

RESULTS

Of 417 enrolled participants, 373 (mean [SD] age, 21.0 [1.9] years) completed baseline assessments, with 295 (79.1%) opting into a detox intervention that reduced symptoms anxiety by 16.1% (-1.9 reduction; Cohen d, -0.44; 95% CI, -0.56 to -0.32), depression by 24.8% (-2.0 reduction; Cohen d, -0.37; 95% CI, -0.49 to -0.32) and insomnia by 14.5% (-2.1 reduction; Cohen d, -0.44; 95% CI, -0.56 to -0.32). There was no significant change in loneliness (Cohen d, -0.40; 95% CI, -0.17 to 0.06). Marginal increases were seen in home time (β, 42.8; 95% CI, 24.3 to 61.2 minutes) and screen duration (β, 15.4; 95% CI, 4.9 to 25.9 seconds), with considerable within-person variability. No other changes in behavioral or EMA-based features were observed after the detox.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this cohort of young adults, reducing social media use for 1 week was associated with reductions in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and insomnia; however, the durability of these therapeutic outcomes and their associations with behavior warrant further study, particularly in more diverse populations.