A working paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) has attempted to answer a question that has long divided researchers...does quitting social media make you happier?

The answer, based on one of the largest experiments ever conducted on the subject, leans toward yes, but with important nuances.

The study, titled The Effect of Deactivating Facebook and Instagram on Users' Emotional State, tracked thousands of users who deactivated Facebook and Instagram. The findings show a clear improvement in emotional well-being among those who stayed off the platforms longer.

“We estimate the effect of social media deactivation on users’ emotional state in two large randomised experiments,” the report noted. 

What the study did

Researchers from Stanford, Princeton, MIT, and several other institutions, working in partnership with Meta, ran two parallel randomised controlled trials ahead of the 2020 US presidential election. They recruited 19,857 Facebook users and 15,585 Instagram users, all of whom spent at least 15 minutes a day on their respective platforms.

Participants were split into two groups. A treatment group, about 27% of the total, was paid $150 to deactivate their accounts for six weeks before the election. A control group was paid $25 to deactivate for just the first of those six weeks. Both groups then completed surveys measuring how happy, depressed, or anxious they had felt over the preceding four weeks.

By the numbers

Users who deactivated Facebook for six weeks reported a 0.060 standard deviation improvement in emotional state, an index combining happiness, anxiety and depression. Instagram users who did the same saw a 0.041 standard deviation improvement. 

The researchers estimate that it is equivalent to about 3.8% more people saying they feel happy “often” instead of “sometimes.” 

Who benefits the most?

The effects vary sharply across groups. Facebook’s impact is more pronounced among older users, while Instagram’s benefits are concentrated among younger women.

“Exploratory analysis suggests the Facebook effect is driven by people over 35, while the Instagram effect is driven by women under 25,” the report says. 

The improvement for women aged 18–24 on Instagram stands out, with emotional state rising by 0.111 standard deviations, significantly higher than other groups. 

Not less screen time, just different apps

One of the more counterintuitive findings is that quitting social media does not necessarily reduce overall screen time. Instead, users tend to reallocate their attention.

“Most of the time freed by Facebook deactivation and all of the time freed by Instagram deactivation is substituted for other smartphone apps,” the study notes. 

This suggests that the emotional benefits are not simply about being offline, but about avoiding specific types of content and interactions unique to these platforms.