Social Media at 30 Minutes a Day: What a Penn Trial Found

You may not have to quit social media to feel better. In 2018, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania tested whether using less would do, with a randomized trial, and the answer was encouraging: three weeks at about half an hour a day made a measurable difference.

What the researchers did

The study, by Melissa G. Hunt, Rachel Marx, Courtney Lipson and Jordyn Young, was published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology under a title that sums it up: "No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression."

It involved 143 undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania. Each filled in questionnaires about their mood and well-being, then shared screenshots of their iPhone battery screens, which show how long each app has been used, to give a week of baseline data.

Then they were randomly split into two groups for three weeks:

• The limited group kept Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to 10 minutes per platform per day, about 30 minutes in all.
• The control group used social media as usual.

The researchers compared the two groups on seven outcome measures, including loneliness, depression, anxiety and fear of missing out.

What they found

• Less loneliness and depression. The limited group showed significant reductions in loneliness and depression over the three weeks, compared with the control group.
• The biggest gains for the lowest moods. As Hunt put it in the university's announcement, the effects were "particularly pronounced for folks who were more depressed when they came into the study."
• Tracking helped everyone a little. Anxiety and fear of missing out fell in both groups, including the one that changed nothing. The authors suggest that simply monitoring your own use, as everyone in the study did, has a benefit of its own.

The authors concluded that limiting social media to approximately 30 minutes a day may lead to a significant improvement in well-being.

What the study can't tell you

How far it generalizes. The participants were students at one American university, all iPhone users, and the trial lasted three weeks. Adults with jobs, families and other habits might respond differently, and three weeks says nothing about the long run.

Which apps matter now. The limit covered Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. TikTok and short video weren't part of it.

How much is expectation. Nothing blocked the apps: participants kept to the limit themselves, and sent weekly battery screenshots that showed their actual use. Everyone knew whether they were limiting or not, and mood was measured with questionnaires, which can be colored by what people expect to feel.

Whether quitting would be better. The study compared a limit with business as usual, not with quitting. Hunt herself stressed that the findings don't suggest young people should stop using social media altogether.

What it means for your phone

The encouraging part is how modest the change was. Nobody was asked to delete an account.

• Cap the few apps that pull you in, instead of trying to quit everything. Ten minutes each on three apps was enough here.
• Track your real numbers first. Measuring use seemed to help both groups, and your phone's own Screen Time report is more accurate than a guess.
• Give it three weeks. That was the whole trial, and the change showed up within it.

A cap you set yourself is easy to bend at 11 p.m. Less scrolling in Unrotten holds it for you: you choose the apps that eat your time, set a daily limit, and when it's used up Apple's Screen Time shield locks them until the day resets. For the bigger picture, read our guides to a social media detox and to social media and mental health.

If low mood or loneliness lasts for weeks, a doctor or therapist can help. If you ever have thoughts of harming yourself, call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline in the US, at any hour.