Researchers reveal stunning findings after getting 36,000 people to quit Facebook for six weeks

After the landmark social media addiction trial which saw Facebook found liable for a woman's social media addiction, researchers have studied the effect that the apps can have on people's health.

Back in March, jurors in the groundbreaking trial found that Meta, which owns Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, and Google, owner of YouTube, had intentionally built addictive platforms which harmed a 20-year-old's mental health.

She was subsequently awarded $6m (£4.5m), with many more trials expected to follow, as more people take notice of the impact that 'doomscrolling' through social media can have on our health.

It's long been known that the small boosts of serotonin we get on the internet aren't beneficial for our brain in the long term, with the positive response from Australia's social media ban for teenagers only reinforcing that.

And now researchers think they might have more conclusive proof about the damage that too long online can have on our wellbeing, after they asked 36,000 people to quit Facebook and Instagram in the six weeks before the US presidential election.

Participants were split into two different groups (Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

At a time when online content was perhaps going to be far more stress-inducing, the researchers at Stanford University asked participants, who were spending 15 minutes or more online each day, to either deactivate accounts for six weeks, or log off for a week.

The results in the 27 per cent who stayed off for longer were significantly better than that of the control group, as their emotional well-being was found to be much improved.

There was a slightly smaller bump among those who stayed off Instagram, with women between the ages of 18 and 24 experiencing the biggest benefits, whereas it was those above the age of 35 who reaped the biggest rewards on Facebook.

Australia's social media ban has seemingly been working wonders (Getty Stock)

However, it must be said that, unlike in Australia where youngsters are seemingly enjoying time exploring the outdoors away from the internet, users were often just redirected to other apps, suggesteing that their boost in mood sometimes came from the change in platforms, rather than having less screen time.

Following the recent trial, the result of which Meta and Google both plan to dispute, both companies issued a statement.

Meta said: "Teen mental health is profoundly complex and cannot be linked to a single app.

"We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously as every case is different, and we remain confident in our record of protecting teens online."

A spokesperson for Google said: "This case misunderstands YouTube, which is a responsibly built streaming platform, not a social media site."

It's clear just how much social media is dictating young people's lives and a break from the screen every now and then is bound to do us good, especially after a worrying amount of American students admitted to looking at TikTok while having sex.