We spend so much time on our phones, that sometimes it’s hard to remember what life was like before them. I’m 31, so box Really remember what it was like to open my Facebook account in high school and download Instagram and Snapchat in college — after most of my peers because I’ve always been a bit wary of social media. And while I use social media less, on average, than most people my age, I’m still basically tied to my notifications. I fall prey to mindless surfing and doomscrolling like no one else. On a bad week, I’ll spend about six hours a day on my phone, the vast majority of that on social media.
Of course, for our teenagers, young adults and younger children, there it was there is no life before smartphones and social media. Facebook turns 24 in February. The first iPhone was released in 2007. Instagram dropped in 2010 and Snapchat followed suit in 2011. The world our children have grown up in is saturated with social media and a large part of their social lives takes place online. The research reflects that, with a Pew Research Center 2022 survey finding that 35 percent of teens use social media “almost constantly.”
The research also showed us that spending so much time on social media isn’t good for any of us, especially teenagers — and they know it. On the other hand, cutting back on social media can work wonders. Late last year, a study at JAMA Network Open found that cutting out social media for a week had the power to “significantly” reduce symptoms of anxiety, depression and insomnia in young adults.
That gave us an idea. In the spirit of New Year’s self-improvement, we asked three of our brave Teen Council members to try a social media detox. We asked them to stay off TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube for an entire week — and, just for fun, I decided to participate. Here’s what we learned from our week away from (some) apps.
Why do we detox?
We’ve asked our tweens to do a social media detox from Sunday January 4th to Sunday January 11th — the first week of the year, in true spirit of New Year’s resolution. For Alyssa, 21, this coincided with her first week back at college after winter break. That threw an extra challenge into the mix (as we’ll talk about below), but it was also a reason Alyssa wanted to rehab in the first place: “to set herself up for success this semester of school by creating more sustainable relationships that weren’t based on social media,” she told SheKnows. She also wanted to prove to herself that she was “not addicted” to social media, and this was one way to do it.
Meera, 17, entered rehab because she wanted to “better understand how social media affects my focus and mood.” Clive, 16, also wanted to explore his relationship with social media. “For a long time I hated my tendency to constantly check my phone for messages/notifications,” she explained. “This reflex has been ingrained in my mind all these years of having a phone with social media. So I thought it might be fun to try to break the habit.”
1 Week Social Media Detox: Screen Time Results, Challenges, and Victories
At the end of a week without social media, our teens unanimously agreed that the social media detox was a positive experience — though not without challenges.
For Meera and Clive, the hardest part was just fighting the urge to open their apps. “The hardest part was breaking the habit of automatically checking apps when I was bored,” Meera said.
“I kept catching myself doing this routine every time I had a second free or started to lose interest in whatever else I was doing,” added Clive. “Throughout the week, I’d randomly start scrolling through Reels and realize I had to go detox in five minutes and frantically throw my phone down. This happened many times.” I shared this experience and it was one of the scariest discoveries of detox – realizing how recklessly I turn to these apps when I have a little break.
Alyssa was starting school again this week and said not being on social media was a challenge when meeting new people. “I came back to my campus from winter break as rehab was starting, so it was hard not to ask for people’s social media handles when I met classmates for the first time.” I had a similar experience at a concert during my rehab week and had to briefly go on Instagram to exchange handles with someone I’d met — after explaining that I was off social media for the week, so I wouldn’t be able to return any messages until then.
But this had a positive side. Instead of exchanging social media messages, Alyssa said, “I need to get their numbers and have deeper conversations with them!” For my part, I might not have even chatted at this gig if I was scrolling on my phone between bands.
While my screen time dropped by an average of two hours a day, our teenagers had a different experience. Alyssa’s screen time actually increased during the week — but she was spending it differently. “I spent more time messaging people one-on-one via iMessage instead of scrolling through social media, so even though I was on my phone more, the conversations I had were more intimate,” she said.
Clive had a similar experience. “I honestly didn’t see a dramatic change in my overall screen time,” he explained. “Instead of going on TikTok or Instagram, I watched TV on something like Netflix when I had downtime. So while my screen time decreased slightly, the way I used and viewed my phone for the week changed significantly.”
As for the positive effects of this detox, both Alyssa and Meera noticed that without social media, they spent less time comparing themselves to others. “I was less focused on comparison and more present in my daily routine,” Meera explained. For Alyssa, it was about not being able to access her social media “highlight reel.” “Since I didn’t see the top role of everyone, I could feel better about myself on the bad days,” she said, “instead of wondering why my life couldn’t be as good as the people I follow.
Clive also experienced “reduced anxiety about messaging people”, especially when it came to checking notifications. “I’ll message someone on Snapchat and it’s like we’re playing chess,” he said — they leave him on Delivered for a few hours, so he does the same. “This has become such a habit for all people my age that texting someone has become such a stressful task of possible rejection with every message,” she explained, noting that she would “recoil” when she finally got a message back. “It trains us to rely so much on the good feeling you get from someone texting you or liking your post that we constantly feel the need to check our phones for that dopamine hit.” Getting out of that cycle for a while brought some relief.
Meera said that overall, she felt “calmer and less stressed” and had fewer distractions and more uninterrupted time during the day. Alyssa’s favorite part of the challenge, meanwhile, was that it “forced me to be more intentional with my time.” Instead of scrolling before bed, for example, she read and chatted with her roommates. The change “helped me be more present and feel more complete at the end of the day,” she said.
Adolescent samples on social media detox
We all left rehab with our own conclusions, many of which have to do with intentionality. For me, it was surprising how much time I usually spend on social media and how pointlessly I’ll click on Instagram or TikTok when I have a free moment. In the absence of these options, I’ve found myself spending time on my phone doing slightly more productive things like sorting through email, or more enjoyable things like reading longer articles about topics I actually like (rather than random posts served up by an algorithm).
Alyssa had a similar experience. She realized that the time she usually spends keeping up with people on social media could be better spent diving into activities that bring her joy and “being fully present with those I care about.”
Meera realized “how often I use social media out of habit rather than intention” and found that giving it up “encouraged me to be more mindful of how I spend my time online,” while Clive realized “I need to start thinking of my phone more as a tool. I shouldn’t open it without the intention of completing a task.
Would we do it again?
One surprise from this experiment: all of us, Gen Z and millennials, would opt for a social media detox again. While I’ve slowly slipped back into my Instagram scrolling ways (albeit more aware of how long I’ve been and whether I’m actually enjoying myself), Clive has been keeping up with rehab instructions since it ended. “I found it was unobtrusive in my day-to-day life and useful as a reminder to be more intentional when I pick up my phone,” she said.
If Meera did the detox again, she said she would implement even firmer limits, such as temporarily deleting apps instead of just limiting the time. Alyssa, on the other hand, will relax the rules slightly, allowing DMs and exchanging social media handles with new friends.
For all of us, the experience was mind-blowing — and something I’d recommend to anyone, of any generation, if you find that your social media is affecting your mood. Some intentional time away from your apps might be just what you need.
