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Manage Social Addiction

Your attention is worth protecting.

These are complicated times, and they may stay that way for a while. If social media has started to take more than it gives, you're far from alone, and you don't have to sort it out by yourself. This site gathers clear, sourced information and practical next steps, for you and for the people you care about.

I want to cut back

Practical approaches that work with real life, from small changes to your phone to structured breaks, and how to handle the hard days.

See approaches

I'm worried about my child

How to talk about it without a fight, set family routines that stick, and recognize when it's time to involve a professional.

Guidance for parents

I need to talk to someone

Crisis lines available right now, and step-by-step help finding a therapist, counselor, or doctor for ongoing support.

Get help

What we know

Social media isn't the cause of every problem, and it brings real benefits. It is also designed to be hard to put down, and for many people it crowds out sleep, focus, and time with others. A few numbers help set the scene.

45%

of U.S. teens say they spend too much time on social media, up from 36% in 2022.1

2×

the risk of depression and anxiety symptoms among adolescents using social media more than three hours a day, in the research cited by the Surgeon General.2

31%

of adults' social media use was attributed to self-control problems in a large randomized experiment, not to what people actually wanted.3

Read our summary of the research, including where scientists still disagree.

A gentle place to start

You don't need to quit anything today. Try this for one week: notice when you reach for your phone, and ask yourself what you were hoping to feel. Bored, lonely, anxious, avoiding something? That one question is where most lasting change begins.

What people gain when they cut back

Sources

  1. Pew Research Center. Teens, Social Media and Mental Health (April 2025; survey of U.S. teens 13 to 17 and their parents, fall 2024).
  2. U.S. Surgeon General. Social Media and Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory (2023).
  3. Allcott, H., Gentzkow, M., & Song, L. (2022). Digital addiction. American Economic Review, 112(7), 2424 to 2463.