Investigating the effect of notification deactivation on social media app usage: A longitudinal experiment

Given the potential effects of social media use on health and productivity, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions that encourage healthier usage patterns. Drawing on dual-system theory, this study examines whether reducing external cues, specifically through notification deactivation, can shift users from impulsive to more reflective patterns of social media engagement. In addition, we investigate how individual differences in social media impulsivity influence usage behavior in the absence of external triggers. Through a 21-day field experiment, the findings indicate that notification deactivation temporarily reduced social media usage during the treatment period but failed to sustain these effects after the intervention ended. Furthermore, individuals with higher levels of social media impulsivity, particularly those exhibiting strong positive and negative urgency, continued to spend more time on social media applications despite notification deactivation.