A week without using social media: results from an ecological momentary intervention study using smartphones
Abstract
Online social media is now omnipresent in many people's daily lives. Much research has been conducted on how and why we use social media, but little is known about the impact of social media abstinence. Therefore, we designed an ecological momentary intervention study using smartphones. Participants were instructed not to use social media for 7 days (4 days baseline, 7 days intervention, and 4 days postintervention; N = 152). We assessed affect (positive and negative), boredom, and craving thrice a day (time-contingent sampling), as well as social media usage frequency, usage duration, and social pressure to be on social media at the end of each day (7,000+ single assessments). We found withdrawal symptoms, such as significantly heightened craving (β = 0.10) and boredom (β = 0.12), as well as reduced positive and negative affect (only descriptively). Social pressure to be on social media was significantly heightened during social media abstinence (β = 0.19) and a substantial number of participants (59 percent) relapsed at least once during the intervention phase. We could not find any substantial rebound effect after the end of the intervention. Taken together, communicating through online social media is evidently such an integral part of everyday life that being without it leads to withdrawal symptoms (craving, boredom), relapses, and social pressure to get back on social media.
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Hall et al. found that social media abstention did not account for changes in loneliness or subjective well-being.
“For instance, Hall et al. (40) manipulated social media use by randomly assigning undergraduates to varying durations of abstinence (0, 2, 3, and 4 weeks) and found that social media abstention did not account for changes in loneliness or subjective well-being [see (41) for similar finding].”
From Does Social Media Use Increase Depressive Symptoms? A Reverse Causation Perspective (2021) · cites this paper as [41]
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Cervigón-Carrasco, V., Politi, S. P., Brevers, D., Giménez‐García, C., King, D. L., Billieux, J., & Castro‐Calvo, J. (2024) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2024.108389 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
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Exploring the digital detox journey among generation Y Instagram users
Scheppe, M. M., Seiffen, A. L., & Berndt, A. D. (2025) · Information Technology and People · doi:10.1108/itp-07-2023-0721 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Vega, J., Bell, B. T., Taylor, C. S., Xie, J., Ng, H., Honary, M., & McNaney, R. (2022) · JMIR Mental Health · doi:10.2196/32146 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“The self-report questions used in smartphone-based EMA are often literal translations of clinical tools [24,26,33,34].”
Melton, J. H., Verhulsdonck, G., Shah, V., & Dunn, P. (2019) · IEEE International Professional Communication Conference (ProComm) · doi:10.1109/procomm.2019.00016 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Researchers in the field of cyberpsychology have begun to study this phenomenon [4].”
BackgroundAppreciation of achievement and a behavioural preference to view failure: Schadenfreude online
Phillips, J. G., Landhuis, C. E., & Wood, J. K. (2020) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2020.110597 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
Mathis, P., Lerma, M., Sandoval, K., Torres, J., & Cooper, T. V. (2021) · Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science · doi:10.1007/s41347-021-00231-5 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“During brief periods of temporary abstinence from social media, users may experience heightened craving, boredom, irritability, increased social pressure to resume social media use and relapse (Andreassen, 2015; Stieger & Lewetz, 2018).”
BackgroundSustaining Abstinence from Social Media: Results from a Seven-Day Facebook Break
Vaghefi, I. (2021) · International Academic Mindtrek Conference (Mindtrek) · doi:10.1145/3464327.3464337 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Đurić, P., Ćudina, V., Bolić, T., & Tkalić, R. G. (2024) · Journal of European Psychology Students · doi:10.59477/jeps.598 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
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“At present, it is known that HC is a health coaching intervention that costs relatively cheaply and can be done using a telephone and a smartphone application (10-12).”
BackgroundWanting and liking of Facebook functions and their correlation to problematic use
Lakatos, D., Kovács, B., Czigler, I., Demetrovics, Z., & File, D. (2025) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-024-84514-w · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Methodological considerations for social media intervention studies
Abeele, M. V., Murphy, S. L., Lemahieu, L., & Koster, E. H. W. (2025) · Nature Reviews Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44159-025-00474-6 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“For instance, one study explicitly examined ‘heightened craving’ as a withdrawal symptom resulting from breaking with a social media addiction 30 .”
InfluentialLeveraging Social Media for Second Language Spanish Pronunciation Instruction
Offerman, H. M., & Yelin, B. (2022) · Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference (PSLLT) · doi:10.31274/psllt.13352 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Digital Disconnection and Portuguese Youth: Motivations, Strategies, and Well-Being Outcomes
Dias, P., Martinho, L. C.-V., & Jorge, A. (2023) · Comunicação e Sociedade · doi:10.17231/comsoc.44(2023).4466 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Early on, Wyatt et al. (2002) suggested that a sense of delusion, disappointment, or deception when comparing expectations about the internet with actual experiences and acknowledging online risks may lead to voluntary disconnection.”
BackgroundInfluentialChen, Z., Ge, J., Gan, Q., Fu, Y., & Chen, Z. (2025) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0320305 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“For instance, it has been shown that providing a coach for advice and support helped one pre-post study achieve a 70% retention rate [104], and ensuring privacy and convenience in accessing the intervention are critical factors for participant engagement [104–106].”
Transdisciplinary AI Observatory—Retrospective Analyses and Future-Oriented Contradistinctions
Aliman, N.-M., Kester, L. J. H. M., & Yampolskiy, R. V. (2021) · Philosophies · doi:10.3390/philosophies6010006 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
“Paired with the strong social dependency of humans where social pressure plays an important regulatory role with biological roots [98], it already triggered what one could call automated peer pressure, a self-perpetuating pattern of social pressure [99–103] without the need for social agents that directly and consciou…”
BackgroundThe abstinence from smartphone scale (ABSS-10): Psychometric properties and practical utility
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Validation of the brief screening of Social Network Addiction Risk
Favieri, F., Forte, G., Savastano, M., & Casagrande, M. (2024) · Acta Psychologica · doi:10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104323 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
Whelan, E. (2019) · Lecture notes in information systems and organisation · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-28144-1_2 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
“Likewise, the withdrawal symptoms of craving and boredom have been reported by participants while abstaining from social media (15).”
BackgroundWilloughby, J. F., & Couto, L. (2025) · Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10410236.2025.2480685 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“EMI has been used in health communication efforts, including mobile health (e.g., Brookie et al., 2017; Hébert et al., 2018) and in relation to the impact of using social media, such as in a study in which researchers asked participants to abstain from using social media (Stieger & Lewetz, 2018).”
Vaghefi, I., & Turel, O. (2025) · Communications of the Association for Information Systems · doi:10.17705/1cais.05623 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Disconnect to Recharge: Well-Being Benefits of Digital Disconnection in Daily Life
Gilbert, A., Klingelhoefer, J., & Meier, A. (2025) · Communication Research · doi:10.1177/00936502251387830 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“Some studies find no change in overall affective well-being (Hall, Xing et al., 2021; Nguyen & Hargittai, 2024; Przybylski et al., 2021; Stieger & Lewetz, 2018; Vanman et al., 2018) or increases in negative affect (Hanley et al., 2019; Vally & D’Souza, 2019).”
The Social Construction of Technology
Hall, J. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108629935.003 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Developing a MODI Framework for Motivational Organizational Disconnection (MODI) Policies
Vranješ, I., Lacroix, A., & den Broeck, A. V. (2025) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-76902-3_15 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Fidel, L. R., Berto, M. C., Turleque, L. P., García‐Palacios, A., & Suso‐Ribera, C. (2025) · Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking · doi:10.1089/cyber.2024.0582 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“38,39 Persuasive app features may further enhance engagement and adherence.”
Smartphone Use and Well-Being in Two Contexts
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Dependência do smartphone: relação entre procrastinação, saúde geral e valores humanos
Soares, A. K. S., Barros, R. C. F., Rezende, A. T., & Ribeiro, M. G. C. (2023) · Quaderns de Psicologia · doi:10.5565/rev/qpsicologia.1834 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
Personalizing Time Loss Aversion to Reduce Social Media Use
Gao, Z.-Y. (2023) · User Modeling, Adaptation, and Personalization · doi:10.1145/3565472.3592951 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
“Digital detoxes can lead to withdrawal symptoms and may be unrealistic for work and communication needs [39, 43], with plausible effectiveness [36].”
BackgroundPersonality and Individual Differences
Ellis, D. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108671408.006 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
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“As the participants' level of technological proficiency might influence their use of the EMI (Stieger & Lewetz, 2018), they were asked if they were comfortable using smartphones during the initial contact.”
BackgroundVaghefi, I. (2025) · Information Technology and People · doi:10.1108/itp-07-2024-0924 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
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“…significant distress when access to digital media is lost may be caused by uncomfortable symptoms of digital media withdrawal related to abstinence 30 ; our that access-related crises were more common among male individuals could also be a reflection of a greater propensity for developing IA.…”
Malkin, A., Rzeszutek, M. J., Moscovitz, A. M., Axenova, K., Walker, E., Randhawa, A., & Gunnarsson, K. F. (2026) · Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis · doi:10.1002/jaba.70062 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Excessive social media use has been linked to changes in brain structure (He et al., 2017) and withdrawal-like symptoms that mirror those observed in substance addictions (Stieger & Lewetz, 2018).”
Hall, J. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108629935.010 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Mode Comparison and Coexistence
Hall, J. A. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108629935.006 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Stieger, S., & Lewetz, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Konstanz (DE)
- University of Vienna (AT)
- Corresponding author
- Stieger, Stefan
- Venue
- Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2018-10
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 618-624
- ISSN
- 2152-2715 (ISSN-L)
- 2152-2723
- OpenAlex
- W2898050449
- Cited by
- 135
- References
- 30
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 11 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 38 · 2019: 9
- FWCI
- 37.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Science Applications › Digital Media and Philosophy
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Networks and Communications › Media and Digital Communication
- Keywords
- social media withdrawal, craving, boredom, positive and negative affect, social pressure, relapse, rebound effect, smartphone-based intervention, ecological momentary assessment, social media use
- MeSH terms
- Smartphone, Ecological Momentary Assessment, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Substance Withdrawal Syndrome, Behavior, Addictive, Young Adult, Social Media, Craving
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