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5 Tips To Spend Less Time On Social Media And Boost Your Mental Health

Leo Migdal
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5 tips to spend less time on social media and boost your mental health

If you have ever sworn off social media for a week or two because you sensed it was feeding your anxiety or dampening your mood, you may be on to something. A new study out last week in JAMA Network Open found that cutting down on social media use even for a week can significantly reduce mental health symptoms in young adults. It's part of a growing body of research that shows that taking breaks from scrolling and posting can be a mental health boon, especially for young people. For example, a recently published meta-analysis found that limiting social media is tied to a statistically significant boost in "subjective well-being." Most studies on the impacts of social media ask users to recall how much time they spend on their phones or these platforms, as well as other aspects of their health like mood and... But that data is often unreliable, says psychiatrist John Torous, director of the Division of Digital Psychiatry at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and author of the new study.

For many of us, checking Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and other social media is a part of our normal routine. In 2023, there was an estimated 4.9 billion social media users worldwide. The average person spends 145 minutes on social media every day. Viewing posts from friends and family across the world can be a way to make you feel more connected. However, social media use has a dark side. Social media can negatively impact our overall wellbeing by fueling anxiety, depression, loneliness and FOMO (fear or missing out).

These issues are especially prevalent in teens and young adults. Social media is here to stay and will continue to evolve and become more invasive. If you're spending a lot of time on social media and feeling sadness, dissatisfaction, frustration, or loneliness, it may be time to re-examine your relationship with your online presence. Understanding how social media impacts our mental health and overall wellbeing is important for yourself and your loved ones. You’re not alone if you feel mentally off after eyeballing yet another social media influencer’s dream vacation content or their impressive party spread they effortlessly whipped up. But while scrolling through TikTok or Instagram is an easy way to pass the time when you’re stuck in line or flat-out bored, a growing body of research suggests what many of us already...

Now, a new study spells out clear benefits from taking a break—and suggests you can see an uptick in your mood in as little as a week. The study, which was published in JAMA Network Open, makes a solid case for stepping back from social media, especially if your mental health isn’t as great as you’d like it to be. Still, “I think everybody could benefit from doing this,” Thea Gallagher, PsyD, a clinical associate professor at NYU Langone Health and cohost of the Mind in View podcast, tells SELF. Here’s why. For the study, researchers asked 373 people between the ages of 18 and 24 to share information about their regular social media use and answer questions about their mental health. The researchers discovered that the participants spent about 1.9 hours a day on a range of social media platforms, which translates to about 13.3 hours a week.

From there, the participants were asked to do a one-week social media detox, where they avoided using platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and X, while reporting on their mental health status. (A total of 295 people actually did this.) During that time, their total screen time fell to about half an hour a day. The researchers discovered that the detox was linked with a 24.8% drop in symptoms of depression, 16.1% dip in symptoms of anxiety, and 14.5% drop in symptoms of insomnia—and the impact was even greater... However, the detox didn’t have an impact on feelings of loneliness. “These findings suggest that reducing social media use for one week may improve mental health outcomes in young adults,” the researchers wrote in the conclusion. You grab your phone to check your social media feed for “just five minutes.” After reading all about your friend’s sparkling social gathering, checking out hairstyle before-and-afters and catching up on the latest celebrity...

And somehow, you feel more dissatisfied and unhappy than you were before you picked up your phone. Sound familiar? Studies show that social media can fuel comparison, FOMO (fear of missing out), self-consciousness and feelings of inadequacy — all of which impact our mental health, leading to anxiety and even depression. It’s easy to say just stop using social media. But with social media such a big part of everyone’s lives, it’s more practical to make social media work for you. How?

By nurturing a more positive online presence. Finally, consider this: Are you spending as much time with others as you do on social media? Make an effort to spend time in person with family and friends, instead of just connecting online or through texts. A full digital detox can sometimes help jumpstart better mental well-being and help you recharge. "I can't believe how much time I waste on Facebook," a friend once told me. "It's not like there's even anything good or interesting.

I really should get rid of it." My friend isn't alone; plenty of people get little value out of social media. Yet many continue to use it more than they would like, often to the detriment of their productivity and mental well-being. Facebook is hardly the only offender. People throw their hands up at Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, and other apps and websites all the time. Leaving one platform for another (like dropping X for Bluesky) isn't a solution, either. Still, not everyone wants to quit social media entirely.

If you're in that last group, try these strategies for limiting your use. The fastest way to cut back on social media is to turn off all notifications for the platforms you use. Social media sites design notifications to make it feel like something urgent and important is happening. That's why they're effective. When you turn them off, you are back in control of when and how often you open an app. Disable all phone notifications for the apps in question and turn off email alerts.

Do this for all the social media sites on which you feel you spend too much time. Make sure to turn off both badges and push notifications. Updated May 14, 2024 | Reviewed by Ray Parker My friend Alli, a woman in her 20s, described an interesting emotional arc to her Instagram use. As she scrolled, she found some of the posts inspiring, but after a while, she noticed that spending time on the app left her feeling “bummed.” Alli decided to delete Instagram for a month. She reflected that during that month, she felt “10 times better.”

I was curious. Was Alli’s experience typical? Is there research evidence demonstrating that a break from social media makes people feel meaningfully better? A 2022 research study asked 154 participants (average age of 29.6 years) to either stop using social media for one week (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok) or to continue using it as usual. The group who took a break from social media experienced significantly reduced anxiety and depression, along with greater well-being. Among university students, one study of 555 participants showed that a one-week break from social media meaningfully decreased stress levels, especially for people who used social media excessively.

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