A New Year's Resolution to Use Less Social Media That Lasts

The short version: A New Year's resolution to use less social media lasts longer when it is specific and adds something rather than only taking something away. Pick a clear limit (for example, no social apps before 9 am or after 9 pm, or 30 minutes a day), choose what you will do in that time instead, and set the limit up on your phone before 1 January so it holds when your willpower doesn't. A large study of New Year's resolutions found that goals framed as starting something worked better than goals framed as quitting something. Plan for slips, and restart the next day instead of waiting for next year.

It is 1 January, 12:40 am. Someone across the room is still singing. You are on the sofa, telling yourself this is the year you finally use social media less, and you are telling yourself this while scrolling through everyone else's fireworks.

We have made that exact resolution. Some of us have made it four years running. So this is a plan from people who know how the second week of January goes, and who wanted something that would still be standing in March.

Why social media resolutions are so hard to keep

The apps are built to be reopened. Feeds have no last page, and each refresh might show you something good, or might not. That unpredictability is a strong pull. Our guide on why you can't stop scrolling explains the design in more detail. A resolution made at midnight is up against teams of people whose job is to bring you back.

"Less" is too vague to keep. "Use social media less" gives you nothing to check against on 14 January. Was 50 minutes less? Less than what? Vague goals let every single scroll feel fine.

Quitting leaves a gap. If scrolling is what you do on the bus, in the queue and in bed, removing it leaves those minutes empty. Empty minutes tend to get refilled with the same app.

The hardest moments come when you are tired. Few people break a resolution at 10 am with a coffee. Most break it at 10 pm after a long day, when the thumb is moving before the decision.

So the plan has to carry more of the weight than willpower can on a Tuesday night in January.

What the research says about resolutions that last

New beginnings do help. Hengchen Dai, Katherine Milkman and Jason Riis at the Wharton School studied what they called the fresh start effect. Across Google searches, gym visits and online goal commitments, people were more likely to start working on goals after dates that felt like a new start: the new year, the start of a week or month, a birthday. So the urge to begin in January is real and worth using. It just needs a plan behind it.

Starting something works better than stopping something. In a study of 1,066 people who made New Year's resolutions, published in PLOS ONE in 2020, Martin Oscarsson and colleagues at Stockholm and Linköping universities followed them for a year. People whose resolutions were about starting something new were more successful than people whose resolutions were about quitting or avoiding something: 58.9% compared with 47.1%. Per Carlbring, one of the researchers, put it simply: "You cannot erase a behaviour, but you can replace it with something else." About 55% of those who answered at the end of the year said they had kept their resolution, which is better odds than most people assume.

If-then plans help people follow through. A 2006 review by Peter Gollwitzer and Paschal Sheeran pooled 94 tests of what psychologists call implementation intentions, plans in the form "if this happens, I will do that." People who made such plans were more likely to reach their goals, with a medium to large effect.

Cutting back can make you feel better. At the University of Pennsylvania, Melissa Hunt and colleagues asked 143 students to limit Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to 10 minutes each a day for three weeks. Compared with students who kept their usual habits, the limited group reported less loneliness and fewer symptoms of depression, especially those who had felt worse at the start. In a larger 2025 trial in PNAS Nexus, 467 adults who blocked mobile internet on their phones for two weeks reported better wellbeing and mental health and did better on an attention test. These studies were short, and they do not prove that every person will feel better. They do suggest the effort tends to pay off.

Habits take a while. Phillippa Lally and colleagues at University College London followed 96 people building a new daily habit. On average it took 66 days for the habit to feel automatic, with a wide range from person to person, from 18 days to more than 250. If January feels hard, that is about what the research predicts. February is often when it starts to get easier.

How to set a social media resolution that lasts

1. Write a specific rule

Choose one rule you could check at the end of each day. Some that work well:

  • Time windows. No social apps before 9 am or after 9 pm.
  • A daily allowance. 30 minutes a day across all social apps.
  • Places. No social media in bed, at the table or in the car.
  • Days. No social media on Sundays.
  • Specific apps. Keep the one that connects you with family and remove the one that only eats time.

Start with one rule. You can add another in February.

2. Decide what you will do instead

This is the step most resolutions skip, and the Stockholm study suggests it matters. Write down what replaces scrolling at your most common scrolling moments:

  • In bed: a paper book on the bedside table, with the phone charging in another room.
  • On the bus: a podcast you have saved in advance, or an audiobook.
  • On the sofa in the evening: a walk, a call to a friend, a hobby within arm's reach.
  • First thing in the morning: a glass of water and five minutes by a window before the phone comes out.

Turn each one into an if-then plan: "If I get into bed, I will read ten pages." The more specific, the more likely you are to follow it.

3. Set it up on your phone before 1 January

A rule only you can enforce is easy to bend when you are tired. Set up your phone so the rule holds without a decision.

iPhone with iOS 27. For time windows, go to Settings > Screen Time > Screen Time Schedule, turn on Schedule, tap Add Schedule and choose the days. In each time window, leave out the Social Media category when you want it closed. For a daily allowance, go to Settings > Screen Time > Time Allowances and set how long you can use the Social Media category each day. Apple's Screen Time Schedules and Time Allowances guide explains both.

iPhone with iOS 26 and earlier. Use Settings > Screen Time > Downtime for time windows and App Limits for a daily allowance, as described in Apple's iOS 26 guide.

Android. Go to Settings > Digital Wellbeing to set app timers or use Focus mode with a schedule, as Google's Digital Wellbeing help page explains.

Our guides to blocking apps for certain hours and limiting time on specific apps go through each option step by step.

Make the apps a little harder to reach too. Move them off your home screen, sign out of them in your phone's browser, and turn off their notifications. A red badge on 2 January has broken plenty of resolutions.

The built-in limits share one weakness: the person who set them can turn them off in seconds. That is the problem we built Unglue to solve. It keeps the apps you choose blocked until you earn minutes with something in real life, like a walk, a glass of water or a few pages of a book, so the replacement habit is built into the rule. It can also block on a schedule, so evenings and nights stay covered. On iPhone it uses Apple's Screen Time framework. If you want someone to keep you honest, Selection Lock with a Buddy Code lets a partner or friend hold the key: you can add apps to the blocked list whenever you like, and removing them needs their code. Yes, we are an app that wants you on your phone less. We have made our peace with it.

4. Tell someone, or do it together

Resolutions are easier with company. Make it with a partner, a friend or a group chat, and agree to check in once a week. If you live with someone, agree on a phone-free time you both keep, like dinner or the hour before bed.

5. Plan for the slip

You will probably have a night when you scroll for an hour. Decide now what happens next: you start again the next morning, with the same rule. A single bad day does not end the resolution unless you let it. If the rule keeps breaking at the same moment, change the plan for that moment instead of giving up on the goal.

6. Check in at the end of January

On the last day of January, look at your screen time and ask three questions. Is the rule working? Which moment is still hard? Is there one more rule worth adding?

If you want a bigger break

Some people prefer a clean break: a week or a month with no social media at all, then a slower return. That can work well, especially if you know you find moderation hard. Plan what you will bring back at the end, and how, so the first day afterwards is not a seven-hour catch-up. If you want to give the break a spiritual meaning, our guide on how to do a phone fast as a Christian covers Lent and other seasons.

For a longer plan for the rest of the year, see how to reduce screen time as an adult, and if night-time scrolling is the hard part, how to stop scrolling at night.

If social media leaves you feeling low or anxious most days, or you cannot cut back however hard you try, it can help to talk to someone you trust or to a doctor.

Common questions

How do I make a New Year's resolution to use less social media?

Make it specific and checkable, like "no social apps after 9 pm" or "30 minutes a day." Decide what you will do instead at the times you usually scroll, and set the limit up on your phone with Screen Time or Digital Wellbeing before 1 January so it holds without a daily decision.

Is a New Year's resolution of no social media realistic?

For some people, yes. If you want to quit social media completely, delete the apps, sign out on every device and tell friends how else to reach you. Many people find it easier to start with a month off, then decide which apps, if any, they want back.

How long does it take to break a social media habit?

It varies. A UCL study of new daily habits found it took 66 days on average for a habit to feel automatic, with a range from 18 days to more than 250. Expect the first few weeks to be the hardest.

Why do I always break my social media resolution?

Usually because the goal is vague, nothing replaces the scrolling, and the apps are still one tap away when you are tired. A specific rule, a planned replacement and a block on the phone tend to work better than willpower alone.

What should I do instead of scrolling social media?

Pick something you can do in the same place and time you usually scroll: a book in bed, a podcast on the bus, a walk or a call after dinner. Research on resolutions suggests that replacing a habit works better than only trying to stop it.

Does using less social media make you happier?

Some studies suggest it can. A University of Pennsylvania study found that students who limited social media to about 30 minutes a day reported less loneliness and fewer symptoms of depression after three weeks. A 2025 trial found that blocking mobile internet for two weeks improved wellbeing and attention. Results vary from person to person.

Sources

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