Brief Access Delay and Interruption to Reduce Social Media Use: Is it Effective?

Social media use is widespread among young adults, with many individuals frequently engaging with platforms that provide immediate access to entertainment, social interaction, and personalized content. Social media detoxification broadly refers to planned reductions, interruptions, or temporary restrictions in social media use. Few studies have experimentally evaluated the effects of specific access‐restriction strategies on social media use. The present study evaluated a brief access‐restriction intervention with five college students using a multiple‐baseline design. Access to each participant's two most frequently used social media applications was restricted using a mobile application that arranged time limits and brief delays to access, signaled by prompts. The primary dependent variable was the daily duration of use of the two targeted applications, measured via Screen Time reports generated by participants' phones. Results were mixed. Two participants demonstrated reductions in use, whereas the remaining participants showed minimal change or increases. These findings suggest that access restrictions alone may have limited effectiveness.