SynthesisScientific reports2025
The effects of social media abstinence on affective well-being and life satisfaction: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- From screens to serenity: evaluating the effect of digital detox on mental and physiological health.BMC medical education · 2025Trial
- Causal effects of social media use on self-esteem, mindfulness, sleep and emotional well-being: a social media restriction study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Trial
- Social technology use and life satisfaction in a five-wave panel study of US adults.Nature human behaviour · 2026Article
- Longitudinal event-sampling dataset of football fans across five countries during the 2024 European championship.Scientific data · 2026Article
- Digital social contacts predict reduced loneliness in chronic depression: an exploratory longitudinal study.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Observational
- Digital disconnection as a self-regulatory strategy against procrastination.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Effects of Reducing Social Media Use in Women With Depressive Symptoms.Journal of cognitive psychotherapy · 2026Article
- Disconnect To Reconnect: How Variations between Types of Smartphone Bans Influence Students' Well-being and Social Connectedness in Dutch Secondary Education.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2026Article
- Social comparison and maladaptive emotion regulation are associated with poorer mental health in social media users.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Generative AI Use and Depressive Symptoms Among US Adults.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Technology-related behavioral addiction profiles and mental health in teachers.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Exploring personal digital media environments: a configural approach to digital stress.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Driven by fatigue and fear: the push-pull mechanism of information overload on reflective smartphone disengagement.Australian journal of psychology · 2026Article
- Adolescent screen time, anxiety/depression, and alcohol/e-cigarette use: evidence from the ABCD study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Beyond problematic social media use and the brain: A public health and policy perspective.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Review
- Smartphone bans in schools remain unproven.World journal of pediatrics : WJP · 2025Article
- Small effects, big questions: the unfinished business of social media restriction science.SSM. Mental health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Abstaining from social media has become a popular digital disconnection strategy of individuals to enhance their well-being. To date, it is unclear whether social media abstinences are truly effective in improving well-being, however, as studies produce inconsistent outcomes. This preregistered systematic review and meta-analysis therefore aims to provide a more precise answer regarding the impact of social media abstinence on well-being. The databases of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Communication Source, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar were searched for studies examining the effect of social media abstinence on three outcomes, namely positive affect, negative affect, and/or life satisfaction. In total, ten studies (N = 4674) were included, allowing an examination of 38 effect sizes across these three outcomes. The analyses revealed no significant effects of social media abstinence interventions on positive affect, negative affect, or life satisfaction. Relationships between social media abstinence duration and the three outcomes were also non-significant. The findings thus suggest that temporarily stepping away from social media may not be the most optimal approach to enhance individual well-being, emphasizing the need for further research on alternative disconnection strategies. Nevertheless, important methodological differences between studies should be considered when interpreting these results.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.