How a digital detox could help your brain health

According to surveys, 90% of Americans currently own a smartphone, with most users averaging around 4.5 to 5 hours of screen time every day. At the same time, there is growing concern about the potential negative impacts of smartphone use, with half of all U.S. smartphone users worrying that they use their phones too much.  

"All of us have a somewhat unhealthy relationship with our phones," said Kostadin Kushlev, an associate professor of psychology at Georgetown University.

Emerging research suggests that too much screen time can be detrimental to cognition and mental health. In a 2025 study, researchers found that more screen use was associated with reduced cortical thickness in certain areas of the brain. The cortex is the part of the brain involved in memory, higher-level thinking, and decision-making. Other studies have also found that scrolling short-form videos on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube Shorts can negatively affect attention, memory, and mental health.

In a new study published in PNAS Nexus, researchers evaluated how a "digital detox," or break from smartphone use, could impact participants' brain health. The study included 467 participants, with an average age of 32.

In the study, participants used an app called Freedom to block internet access on their phones for 14 days. However, they were still able to make phone calls and answer text messages. Participants could also access the internet from other devices, such as computers or tablets.

According to the researchers, phone use is "more compulsive and mindless" than a computer and often interrupts social activities, such as having dinner, going for a walk, or watching a movie.

Overall, participants decreased their time online from an average of 314 minutes to 161 minutes. They also reported improvements in sustained attention, mental health, and overall well-being.

"To put these effects into context, the change in objectively measured sustained attention ability is about the same magnitude as 10 years of age-related decline," the researchers wrote. The effect of the intervention on depression symptoms was also larger than antidepressants and similar to that of cognitive behavioral therapy.

More research on digital detoxes is needed

The current study builds on research that suggests cutting down on smartphone use can have positive benefits. In a study published in JAMA Network Open last November, participants who reduced their smartphone use for a week reported drops in anxiety (16.1%), depression (24.8%), and insomnia (14.5%).

However, research in this area is still preliminary, and it's not clear whether more targeted approaches, like blocking only social media for a few hours, would be just as effective as longer breaks from phone use. 

Meanwhile, a large study on the impact of digital detoxes with over 8,000 participants across 23 countries is ongoing. In the study, participants were asked to limit their use of several social media apps, like TikTok, Instagram, X, and Facebook, to no more than five minutes per app each day for two weeks. Data collection will continue through September, and findings are expected early next year.

The study also aims to answer whether the United States and other Western countries experience more severe negative effects from smartphone use — a pattern that has been observed in prior research.

According to Steven Rathje, an incoming assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University and the study's leader, one possibility is that living in a highly individualist, perfectionistic society can exacerbate the psychological tool of smartphone use. This theory aligns with broader research showing the people living in high-income countries are more likely to have anxiety disorders than those living in lower-income ones.

"It suggests something about the stress levels in these places — how competitive they are," Rathje said. "But ultimately, it's still quite a mystery."