2-Week Phone Detox Can Reboot Your Brain

If your brain feels a little frayed by your phone, the simple fix of taking a break appears to be surprisingly effective, writes Ariana Eunjung Cha at the Washington Post. She cites research in PNAS Nexus suggesting that a two-week "digital detox" packs a powerful punch. In the study of 467 adults, participants used an app to block internet access on their phones for 14 days; calls and texts were still allowed. As a result, their screen time was cut roughly in half, from 314 minutes to 161 minutes a day, and by the end, participants showed better focus, improved mental health, and higher self-reported well-being. That held true at the four-week mark, when participants had been back online for two weeks, per Medical Express. Cha sums up the benefits:

• "The improvement in sustained attention was about the same magnitude as 10 years of age-related decline, the researchers noted, and the effect of the intervention on depression symptoms was larger than antidepressants and similar to that of cognitive behavioral therapy."

Researchers say one surprising takeaway from the study was how forgiving the detox seemed to be for participants. Even those who cheated and restored internet access before the two weeks were up still often reported improvements, and many said the positive effects lingered afterward. Other studies point in the same direction: Even small cuts in smartphone or social media use can ease anxiety, depression, and insomnia. Read the full story, in which Cha connects the findings to a broader reckoning over social media's impact, including recent jury verdicts against Meta and YouTube in cases involving young users' mental health.