Remember: Population statistics tell us what happens on average, but your experience might differ substantially. Trust your own wellbeing signals while remaining open to evidence-based insights.
I. Introduction
In a world where opinions on social media swing wildly between "digital poison" and "harmless pastime," finding solid ground can feel impossible. Last week, my neighbor Clara announced she was quitting Instagram "for her mental health," while my colleague Thomas insisted his Facebook usage had "absolutely no effect" on his well-being. Both spoke with equal conviction, yet neither had much beyond personal anecdote to support their position.
Fortunately, science has finally caught up with our collective curiosity. A groundbreaking study led by researchers Hunt Allcott and Matthew Gentzkow has provided the most comprehensive look yet at what happens when people quit major social platforms. With nearly 35,000 participants who deactivated either Facebook or Instagram for 5-6 weeks, this research offers insights that go far beyond the typical "I quit social media for a week and you won't believe what happened" articles that pollute our feeds.
Today, we examine what happens when people quit Facebook or Instagram for over a month, what it means for wellbeing, and—most importantly—how to apply these findings to your own digital life without unnecessary drama or oversimplification.
II. The Study: What Actually Happened
The experiment's design was refreshingly straightforward: researchers recruited tens of thousands of participants. They randomly assigned participants to either deactivate their Facebook or Instagram accounts for 5-6 weeks or continue using them as usual. The timing—during the 2020 U.S. election—was deliberately chosen as a period when social media's effects might be particularly pronounced. Participants were compensated for their participation, which helped ensure they adhered to the protocol rather than sneaking back onto platforms.
What makes this study particularly robust is its scale—with approximately 35,000 participants, it's about 20 times larger than previous similar studies. The researchers also verified compliance through direct platform data, rather than relying solely on self-reports, thereby eliminating the "I only checked it once or twice" phenomenon that often plagues self-reported digital detoxes.
So what happened? From my understanding, people who quit Facebook experienced a modest improvement in emotional well-being, about 0.060 standard deviations on their well-being index. Instagram quitters saw a slightly smaller benefit of 0.041 standard deviations.
If those numbers sound small and somewhat abstract, that's because they are. To put it in more practical terms, the improvement is roughly equivalent to about 3.8% of people feeling happy "often" instead of "sometimes." It's approximately 15-22% as large as the typical benefit people receive from psychological interventions, such as therapy.
The demographic patterns were particularly interesting. Facebook's effects were more substantial for people over 35, while Instagram's negative impact was most pronounced among women aged 18-24. For young women specifically, quitting Instagram had an effect approximately 17% as large as the overall decline in young people's wellbeing observed between 2008 and 2022.
Perhaps most surprising was what happened to people's time. Rather than rediscovering offline hobbies or deep human connections, most participants switched to other apps. The great digital detox dream of suddenly picking up watercolor painting or reading Proust largely failed to materialize.
