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Guess, Young Mie Kim, David Lazer, Neil Malhotra, Devra Moehler, Sameer Nair-Desai, Brendan Nyhan, Jennifer Pan, Jaime Settle, Emily Thorson, Rebekah Tromble, Carlos Velasco Rivera, Arjun Wilkins, Magdalena Wojcieszak, Annie Franco, Chad Kiewiet de Jonge, Winter Mason, Natalie Jomini Stroud & Joshua A. Tucker et al. (View all) Share X LinkedIn Facebook Bluesky Threads Email Link Working Paper 33697 DOI 10.3386/w33697 Issue Date April 2025 We estimate the effect of social media deactivation on users' emotional state in two large randomized experiments before the 2020 U.S. election. People who deactivated Facebook for the six weeks before the election reported a 0.060 standard deviation improvement in an index of happiness, depression, and anxiety, relative to controls who deactivated for just the first of those six weeks. People who deactivated Instagram for those six weeks reported a 0.041 standard deviation improvement relative to controls. Exploratory analysis suggests the Facebook effect is driven by people over 35, while the Instagram effect is driven by women under 25. * Acknowledgements and Disclosures The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Matthew Gentzkow I have been a paid consultant for Amazon and done economic consulting for Analysis Group and Compass Lexecon. Clients for this economic consulting work include large technology companies such as Meta and Google. I have received compensation as a member of the Toulouse Network for Information Technology, a research group funded in part by Microsoft. Adriana Crespo-Tenorio Past employee at Meta Drew Dimmery Past employee at Meta Deen Freelon * Attended a Meta event where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company Sandra Gonzalez-Bailon * Attended a Meta event where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. * Direct research funding from a related company (grant to you as PI or Co-PI). Andrew M. Guess * Attended a Meta event where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. * Direct research funding from a related company (grant to you as PI or Co-PI). Young Mie Kim * Attended a Meta event where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. David Lazer * Attended a Meta event where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. * Attended an event from a related company where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. Neil Malhotra * Attended a Meta event where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. * Attended an event from a related company where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. Brendan Nyhan * Direct research funding from Meta (grant to you as PI or Co-PI). * Attended a Meta event where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. * Attended an event from a related company where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. Jennifer Pan * Direct research funding from Meta (grant to you as PI or Co-PI). * Received an honorarium/fee from Meta for attending or hosting an event/serving as an outside expert. * Attended a Meta event where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. Jaime Settle * Own individual Meta stocks. * Direct research funding from Meta (grant to you as PI or Co-PI). * Attended a Meta event where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. * Own individual stocks of a related company. Emily Thorson * Attended a Meta event where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. Rebekah Tromble * Direct research funding from Meta (grant to you as PI or Co-PI). * Attended a Meta event where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. * Direct research funding from a related company (grant to you as PI or Co-PI). Carlos Velasco Rivera * Past employee at Meta * Own individual Meta stocks. Magdalena Wojcieszak * Direct research funding from Meta (grant to you as PI or Co-PI). * Attended a Meta event where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. * Attended an event from a related company where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. Chad Kiewiet de Jonge * Own individual Meta stocks. * Attended a Meta event where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. Natalie Jomini Stroud * Paid consulting work for Meta. * Direct research funding from Meta (grant to you as PI or Co-PI). * Attended a Meta event where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. * Direct research funding from a related company (grant to you as PI or Co-PI). * Attended an event from a related company where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. Joshua A. Tucker * Direct research funding from Meta (grant to you as PI or Co-PI). * Received an honorarium/fee from Meta for attending or hosting an event/serving as an outside expert. * Attended a Meta event where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. * Attended an event from a related company where food, travel, or lodging was paid for by the company. * Download Citation (*) MARC ( ) RIS ( ) BibTeKh Download Citation Data * Associated Links + data appendix + randomized controlled trials registry entry Related Topics Health, Education, and Welfare Health Industrial Organization Industry Studies Programs Economics of Health Industrial Organization Public Economics Productivity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship More from NBER In addition to working papers, the NBER disseminates affiliates' latest findings through a range of free periodicals -- the NBER Reporter, the NBER Digest, the Bulletin on Retirement and Disability, the Bulletin on Health, and the Bulletin on Entrepreneurship -- as well as online conference reports, video lectures, and interviews. 2024, 16th Annual Feldstein Lecture, Cecilia E. 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