The effects of social media abstinence on affective well-being and life satisfaction: a systematic review and meta-analysis
preregistered; ten studies, N = 4,674, 38 effect sizes across positive affect, negative affect and life satisfaction. The pooled analyses found no significant effects of social media abstinence interventions on positive affect, negative affect or life satisfaction, and the length of abstinence was also unrelated to the three outcomes. The authors caution that methodological differences between the studies matter when reading these results. NOTE THE OUTCOME: well-being, not attention
preregistered; ten studies, N = 4,674, 38 effect sizes across positive affect, negative affect and life satisfaction. The pooled analyses found no significant effects of social media abstinence interventions on positive affect, negative affect or life satisfaction, and the length of abstinence was also unrelated to the three outcomes. The authors caution that methodological differences between the studies matter when reading these results. NOTE THE OUTCOME: well-being, not attention
Written from the abstract read 2026-10-18.
What our sources record
Recorded when this source was checked, figures included, with page references and quotation marks removed.
Lemahieu, L., Vander Zwalmen, Y., Mennes, M., Koster, E. H. W., Vanden Abeele, M., & Poels, K. (2025). The effects of social media abstinence on affective well-being and life satisfaction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 7581. doi:10.1038/s41598-025-90984-3.