Does abstaining from social media make us happier people? Probably not

A new study challenges the idea that quitting social media boosts happiness, finding no significant link between abstinence and improved well-being. Could the “social media detox” be overrated?

Study: The effects of social media abstinence on affective well-being and life satisfaction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Image Credit: Anucha Tiemsom/Shutterstock.com

In a recent publication in Scientific Reports, researchers conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the associations between social media abstinence and overall well-being.

They collated, screened, and analyzed ten publications from six online scientific repositories, totaling 4,674 participants.

Contrary to the increasingly popular belief that social media abstinence has a positive impact on happiness and life satisfaction, the study found no statistically meaningful evidence for this interaction, suggesting that social media abstinence may not present an avenue for enhancing individual well-being.

Background

Social media is an umbrella term for online (digital) platforms that allow users to connect and share content in a semi-public space. It has witnessed unprecedented growth in today’s increasingly online world, with an estimated 5.2 billion users, roughly 64% of the human population.

While social media use has several noteworthy benefits, including data sharing and relationship building, it also presents an equal number of drawbacks. Several reports highlight the potential of platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and X (formerly ‘Twitter’) to induce stress, ‘FOMO’ (fear of missing out), and substantial reductions in productivity.

Additionally, several research works have investigated the “mobile connectivity paradox” – simultaneous feelings of enhanced and infringed-upon autonomy.

These demerits have prompted several news articles and public campaigns calling for ‘social media detox’ (voluntary social media abstinence) as a means to reclaim one’s life satisfaction, productivity, and holistic well-being.

Previous research efforts have attempted to validate the benefits of these temporary social media breaks but have arrived at confounding conclusions—while a few studies have found varying satisfaction improvements following social media disconnect, most others have found no such association.

About the study

The present study aims to settle the debate surrounding social media abstinence and its believed benefits by reviewing pertinent scientific literature on the topic and reanalyzing previous results through meta-analytic methodologies.

To account for the variation in previous research hypotheses and issues of focus, the present review focuses on two specific indicators of social media (abstinence) impacts – affective well-being and life satisfaction, the two most used measures of subjective well-being.

The review complies with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Study data (publications of interest) were acquired from six online scientific repositories: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and Communication Source using a custom search strategy.

Identified publications were subjected to a title, abstract, and full-text screening process with those: 1. Conducted on adult participants, 2. Reporting affective well-being and life satisfaction metrics, and 3. Not conducted in conjunction with other forms of abstinence (e.g., smartphone abstinence) included for meta-analysis.

The Downs and Black checklist were administered to reduce the risk of bias between included studies. Additionally, publication bias was minimized using contour-enhanced funnel plots, Egger’s test, and Duval and Tweedie’s trim-and-fill procedure.

Statistical (meta) analyses were carried out using a random effects model built on the principles of the Hartung-Knapp-Sidik-Jonkman method. Inter-study heterogeneity was measured using τ² and I² statistics.

Study findings

The initial literature search identified 5,014 potential publications, of which 762 were found to be duplicates across the included online repositories. Screening procedures further trimmed this number to only 10 publications meeting all review/meta-analysis inclusion criteria. Together, the publications comprised a total sample size of 4,674 participants (~65% female).

Notably, in included studies, social media abstinence durations ranged from 1 to 28 days, which was relatively short and may not sufficiently represent the impacts of months or years of abstinence.

Nevertheless, meta-analysis results revealed no statistically significant impacts (positive or negative) of social media abstinence, irrespective of the duration measured (up to 28 days). These results were consistent across both effective well-being and life satisfaction measures. Adjusting for sex (male versus female) or age group did not alter these results.

“…the definition of social media was not entirely clear in some of the studies. Certain authors did not state, for example, whether instant messaging applications were also considered social media in their studies. In three of the studies, the devices that the participants were asked to abstain from were also not specified.” 

Risk of bias and heterogeneity assessments validated the robustness of these findings. However, while the present study addresses and settles the ongoing debate surrounding social media detox, it is not without limitations.

Most notably, the limited sample durations of included publications leave prolonged social media abstinence duration inconclusive impacts. Furthermore, the limited number of studies meeting inclusion criteria highlights the dearth of data and research on the topic.

Conclusions

The present review suggests that short-term social media abstinence may not help address or reverse social media’s demerits, prompting a search for alternative avenues to enhance individual well-being.

It highlights the need for further research, mainly focusing on social media abstinence’s longer-duration impacts.