Many of us have been sat down by a teacher, friend or a concerned parent to watch “The Social Dilemma.” The documentary came out in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, when virtually all communication was online. It exposed how social media companies specifically design algorithms that nurture addiction and increase screen time by providing instant gratification. Since then, most users have become aware of the consequences of using smart technology in an attention economy that profits off of our decrease in concentration. In a November 2020 survey of people from ages 14 to 24, over half of respondents said they’ve deleted or thought about deleting their social media accounts or app.

The practice of “digital detox” has grown in popularity over the years as users attempt to break free from addictive social media habits. In a study where 31 young adults limited their social media use to 30 minutes a day for two weeks, researchers found that the experiment improved phone and social media addiction, sleep, satisfaction with life, stress, perceived wellness and supportive relationships.

Anna Schneider ’26 recently took three weeks off of social media. Anna shared that prior to the detox she felt overwhelmed by school and noticed that she was spending a lot of time online, particularly before bed. She deleted Instagram and Tiktok, the only two social media apps she regularly uses. 

“Honestly I wasn’t even using them to be social, I was just consuming content,” she said.

Anna spoke about how without Instagram, she was more inclined to reach out to her friends directly. “At first I missed Instagram because I love posting on my Close Friends story, but being forced to text people instead of using my story like a blog was nice. I had to actually reach out to people to share funny stuff/pictures instead of just posting it,” she shared.

Eden Ikonen ’25 deleted TikTok several weeks ago. On their reasoning for this decision, they said: “I realized that I was spending hours a day scrolling, which would leave me feeling drained and unhappy.” 

Another reason for their TikTok detox was the consumerist presence on the app. “I was growing tired of the excessive consumerism and advertisements everywhere on the app — even after blocking the TikTok shop hashtag I would still get videos of people promoting drop shipped products all the time,” they explained. “Like let me touch grass,” they added — a phrase that means “to go outside; enjoy nature (used especially as an exhortation to spend less time on electronic devices),” as defined by Dictionary.com.

Echoing the “touch grass” mantra, Anna shared that she spent more time outside doing other activities besides social media consumption. “When the weather was nice I mostly just sat outside and read for like four or five hours.” She noted how the screen activities she did partake in were slower forms of digital media: “When the weather got bad I honestly played a lot of Pokemon,” — a Nintendo DS game. 

Both Anna and Eden shared that the ways in which they spent their free time became more meaningful. “I think not consuming media was honestly really good. I just had to sit with my own thoughts a lot. I think I got a lot more creative,” Anna stated. Similarly, Eden reflected, “I find myself more easily doing other, non-social media things when I have time to myself, which I find more emotionally fulfilling.”

Within one week of deleting TikTok, Eden’s average daily screen time halved, having gone from eight hours a day to four. They added, “I do feel like there is some FOMO [fear of missing out], and I find that I spend more time on Instagram now than I did before, but overall I’m glad I deleted it and I feel less inclined to doomscroll in my free time.” 

Like Anna and Eden, current college students are part of the first generation to have grown up with smart technology. They are the first to have learned through experience that the problem starts young. A United Kingdom survey conducted in 2012 — when most of Generation Z were in pre-elementary or early elementary school — studied the lowering attention spans of children. The survey polled 410 teachers and 2000 parents of children aged between two and 11. The survey showed that 91 percent of teachers believe children’s attention spans are becoming shorter as they opt for screen-based activities over conventional reading. Neuroscientist Susan Greenfield says that this is the first proof of a link between shorter attention spans and technology. 

According to a study done by Microsoft, the average time that humans are now able to maintain uninterrupted focus is eight seconds, whereas goldfish are able to maintain at least nine seconds of concentration. 

“Wait Until 8th” is a pledge started by concerned parent Brooke Shannon who wanted to encourage parents to rally together to hold off on giving their kids smartphones until at least 8th grade. The “Wait Until 8th” website reasons that smartphones should be delayed because many technology executives enforce the same rule in their homes. 

The website references an article in the New York Times about Steve Jobs and other Silicon-Valley executives who waited until their children were 14 years old before they allowed them to have a phone. When they did get a phone, they were able to make calls and text, but they were not given a data plan until age 16. 

“If leaders of digital giants like Google, eBay, Apple and Yahoo are delaying the smartphone then should this not give us pause? Executives that flourish on the success of technology are protecting their children from the smartphone. Should we not do the same?” the website reads.

These days, when you reach adulthood, or even high school, it is necessary to have a smartphone and social media apps in order to complete the most basic communication-based tasks. Having to be surrounded by smart technology all the time is a new reality that affects everyone. Greenfield thinks that our brains will adapt to this new reality for better or for worse.

 “We know that the human brain is exquisitely evolved to adapt to the environment and it follows therefore that if the environment is changing in an unprecedented way, then the brain would change in an unprecedented way,” she explained in an interview available online.

She continued, “If we place this very sensitive and vulnerable and impressionable brain into a new environment, let’s say one that’s only two dimensional and only offers two senses — sound and vision — then we might expect some different changes; that’s not to say they’re going to be universally good or universally bad.”

Although the changes that are to come as we grow increasingly dependent on technology are unpredictable, what we can rely on is the fact that we will adapt to this new reality, as Greenfield emphasized. People are beginning to evolve with the development of technology and find subtle ways to resist its negative effects. 

Users are adopting self-accountability measures and learning to prioritize mental and physical wellness over screen-time, and digital detoxes are just one example.

As a final note, Anna said: “I would definitely advise other people to at least delete one social media app especially if they feel stuck in a mental health rut.”