Taking a Facebook Break

What happens if you pick some people and boot them off Facebook for a month?


It also helped some to break the Facebook habit. Several weeks after the deactivation period, those who had been off Facebook spent 23% less time on it than those who had never left, and 5% of the forced leavers had yet to turn their accounts back on. And the amount of money subjects were willing to accept to shut their accounts for another four weeks was 13% lower after the month off than it had been before. Users, in other words, overestimate how much they value the service: a misperception corrected by a month of abstention. . . .

What would happen if Facebook was turned off? (emphasis added)

No surprise, but illustrates the power of Facebook’s algorithmic magic: just one more video, just one more update. Makes you forget there are other things you enjoy more.