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Publication

The Effect of Deactivating Facebook and Instagram on Users’ Emotional State

We estimate the effect of social media deactivation on users’ emotional state in two large randomized experiments before the 2020 U.S. election. People who deactivated Facebook for the six weeks before the election reported a 0.060 standard deviation improvement in an index of happiness, depression, and anxiety, relative to controls who deactivated for just the first of those six weeks. People who deactivated Instagram for those six weeks reported a 0.041 standard deviation improvement relative to controls. Exploratory analysis suggests the Facebook effect is driven by people over 35, while the Instagram effect is driven by women under 25.

Author(s)
Hunt Allcott
Matthew Gentzkow
Benjamin Wittenbrink
Juan Carlos Cisneros
Adriana Crespo-Tenorio
Drew Dimmery
Deen Freelon
Sandra González-Bailón
Andrew M. Guess
Young Mie Kim
David Lazer
Neil Malhotra
Devra Moehler
Sameer Nair-Desai
Brendan Nyhan
Jennifer Pan
Jaime Settle
Emily Thorson
Rebekah Tromble
Carlos Velasco Rivera
Arjun Wilkins
Magdalena Wojcieszak
Annie Franco
Chad Kiewiet de Jonge
Winter Mason
Natalie Jomini Stroud
Joshua A. Tucker
Publication Date
April, 2025