Stanford University researchers conducted one of the largest randomized controlled trials on social media and emotional health, shedding light on the emotional impact of a social media detox and who can benefit most with time away from the apps.
In recent years, concerns about the impact of social media on mental health have moved from the margins to the mainstream. From policymakers to parents, many are asking whether constant connectivity is coming at a psychological cost. Now, a landmark study headlined by Hunt Allcott and Matthew Gentzkow, both professors at Stanford University in California and research associates at the National Bureau of Economic Research, offers new evidence on that question. Drawing on one of the largest randomized controlled trial (RCT) experiments ever conducted on the topic, their research explores what happens when people step away from platforms like Facebook and Instagram and whether a digital break might improve our well-being.
A Landmark Study on Digital Well-being
In the digital era, where social media platforms dominate daily routines, new research is shedding light on how disengaging from these networks may impact mental health. A large-scale, randomized study by economists Hunt Allcott, Matthew Gentzkow, and their collaborators, recently released as a working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), offers some of the most comprehensive evidence yet on this issue.
Titled “The Effect of Deactivating Facebook and Instagram on Users’ Emotional State” (NBER Working Paper No. 33697), the study involved over 35,000 users who were randomly assigned to deactivate either Facebook or Instagram in the six weeks leading up to the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
“We ran two parallel experiments, with Facebook and Instagram as the respective “focal platform.” For each focal platform, Meta drew a stratified random sample of users who were in the U.S., were age 18 or older, and had logged in at least once in the past month. From August 31 to September 12, Meta placed survey invitations at the top of these users’ focal platform news feeds,” the study explains.
“On Facebook, a total of 10.6 million users were invited to the study, 673,388 clicked the invitation, and 43,249 were willing to deactivate, consented to participate, and completed the enrollment survey. Of these, 19,857 completed the baseline survey, could be linked to platform data, and had at least 15 minutes of baseline use per day. This final group is our “primary analysis sample.” On Instagram, the analogous numbers are 2.6 million invites, 319,271 clicks, 42,658 enrollment survey completes, and 15,585 participants in the primary analysis sample.”
Modest but Meaningful Emotional Gains
The findings were statistically significant, although modest in scale. Facebook deactivation led to a 0.060 standard deviation improvement in a composite index of emotional well-being, while Instagram deactivation yielded a 0.041 improvement. These gains represent approximately 15–22% of the benefits typically seen with established psychological interventions, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or mindfulness-based interventions.
The improvements weren’t equally distributed. Adults over 35 saw the most substantial benefit from leaving Facebook, whereas young women under 25 experienced the most emotional uplift from an Instagram break. This suggests that age and platform use patterns may influence the psychological impact of social media.
Not Just About Screen Time
One notable finding is that participants did not simply reduce their screen time; they often replaced Facebook or Instagram with other apps. Yet the emotional improvements persisted, indicating that the effects were linked to the specific nature of content and interaction on the deactivated platforms, not just the time spent online.
The study also took place during an especially intense political period, suggesting that context matters. Whether these effects would be as strong in less polarized or stressful times remains an open question.
“Our experiments are 20 times larger than any previous experiment, the first to consider the effects of Instagram in isolation, and the first to estimate effects in the context of a U.S. presidential election,” the study explains.
Public Commentary in The Washington Post
In an op-ed published on April 21, 2025, in The Washington Post, the study’s Stanford researchers, Allcott and Gentzkow, summarized their results and reflected on the broader implications. The piece, titled “Could a social media detox improve our well-being?”, framed the study in accessible terms for the public, giving food for thought on the topic of both how and who social media affects most users’ mental health.
“Our results suggest that stepping back from social media can improve people’s emotional state,” Allcott and Gentzkow wrote.
“In our study released this week, we find that the treatment groups that quit Facebook or Instagram before the election improved on an index of self-reported happiness, anxiety and depression. The Facebook effect is highly statistically significant, while the Instagram effect is somewhat less so. Exploratory analysis suggests the effect of quitting Facebook was driven by people over 35, while the Instagram effect appears to be driven by women under 25. This latter result is consistent with concerns that Instagram may have particularly negative effects on young women.”
“The sizes of these effects are meaningful, but perhaps smaller than social media’s fiercest critics might expect. When mapped onto our original survey questions, the estimated effects are equivalent to about 4 percent of people saying they felt happy “often” instead of “sometimes.” The study found that quitting Facebook or Instagram was about one-fifth as effective as the average of psychological interventions such as mindfulness or cognitive behavioral therapy. The estimated effect of quitting Instagram on 18-to-24-year-olds was about one-sixth as large as the nationwide increase in psychological distress for that age group between 2008 and 2022,” the Op-Ed explains.
A Call for Balance
The researchers do not advocate abandoning social media altogether. Instead, their work contributes to a growing debate and understanding over how these platforms affect psychological health and what users, and possibly regulators, might do to mitigate the downsides.
With mental health concerns rising globally and growing scrutiny on tech companies, this research highlights a simple but effective personal strategy: taking a break. Whether done individually or supported by broader design changes, the idea of a “social media detox” is now backed by stronger empirical evidence than ever before.
Credits: Allcott, H., Gentzkow, M., et al. (2025). “The Effect of Deactivating Facebook and Instagram on Users’ Emotional State” NBER Working Paper No. 33697. https://www.nber.org/papers/w33697
Allcott, H., & Gentzkow, M. (2025, April 21). “Could a social media detox improve our well-being?” The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/04/21/social-media-election-politics-wellbeing
Additional credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.
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