What Happens If You Don't Use Your Phone for 7 Days?

What Happens If You Don't Use Your Phone for 7 Days? What would change if you put your phone down for a full week? Researchers have tested versions of this question for years, from one-week breaks to four-week breaks, and from phones kept in sight to phones kept out of the room. Here is what they found. All research and sources are linked below. 📚 RESEARCH & SOURCES: ▸ Morten Tromholt — "The Facebook Experiment: Quitting Facebook Leads to Higher Levels of Well-Being" (2016, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking). A randomized experiment with 1,095 Danish participants. The group asked to stop using Facebook for one week reported higher life satisfaction and a better emotional life. The gains were greatest for heavy users, passive users, and people prone to envy on the platform. //doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2016.0259 ▸ Tromholt — journal press release summarising the study. ://home.liebertpub.com/news/feeling-blue-taking-a-break-from-facebook-might-help/2059 ▸ Hunt Allcott, Luca Braghieri, Sarah Eichmeyer & Matthew Gentzkow — "The Welfare Effects of Social Media" (2020, American Economic Review). A randomized experiment where a group deactivated Facebook for four weeks before the 2018 US midterm election. It reduced online activity, increased offline activities such as socializing with family and friends, increased subjective well-being, and reduced news knowledge and political polarization. //www.aeaweb.org/doi/10.1257/aer.20190658 ▸ Allcott et al. — free working-paper version. //www.nber.org/papers/w25514.pdf ▸ Adrian Ward, Kristen Duke, Ayelet Gneezy & Maarten Bos — "Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One's Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity" (2017, Journal of the Association for Consumer Research). Two experiments found that the mere presence of a person's own smartphone reduced available cognitive capacity, even when they avoided checking it. The effect was strongest among people most dependent on their phones. //repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/2152/64130/2/braindrain.pdf DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/691462 ———————————————————— RESEARCHERS MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO: ▸ Morten Tromholt — Researcher at the University of Copenhagen who tested what happens when people stop using Facebook for one week. ▸ Hunt Allcott and colleagues — Economists who ran a large randomized experiment where participants deactivated Facebook for four weeks and were tracked on their well-being and daily habits. ▸ Adrian Ward — Researcher whose team showed that a phone sitting nearby can use up some of our mental capacity, even when we never touch it. ———————————————————— ⚠️ This video is for education only and is not medical advice. The studies above looked at Facebook use and at having a phone nearby, not at a full week without any phone at all. ———————————————————— Script, research, and visuals by [ExploreHereDaily]. #phonedetox #digitaldetox #whatif #screentime #wellbeing #humanity #viral #science #educational #knowledge #viralvideo #new #trending #motivation #youtube