The average American spends four and a half to five hours on their phone every day. That’s more than two months a year when we’re not doing something else! A study published in PNAS Nexus involving 467 individuals showed even a short time away from a phone could erase a decade’s worth of age-related cognitive decline.
A Harvard study of nearly 400 people was published in JAMA Network Open last November. After a week of reduced smartphone use, 16.1 percent of participants reported a drop in anxiety, 24.8 percent had reduced depression and 14.5 percent had less insomnia.
The central challenge is identifying those who are most susceptible to social media addiction and why.”
Source: The Washington Post, April 9, 2026. Link. “For some people, their use is too much or too little, and for others it’s just right. To identify who is harmed by it is very important.” John Torous, associate professor and staff psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School and the lead author of the JAMA Network Open study
INSIGHTS: Some data from the studies may contribute to in-office social media use guidelines.