Starving the Newsfeed for Social Media Detox: Effects of Strict and Self-regulated Facebook Newsfeed Diets

Doomsurfing, doomscrolling or zombie scrolling. These new additions to the tech vocabulary have become part of our everyday routine, scrolling endlessly through social media feeds. Furthermore, some users report a sense of compulsion, a decrease in mental wellbeing and an increased sense of distraction. A common complaint among users harks back to the Facebook newsfeed. In a field experiment with real Facebook users (𝑛 = 138), we investigate the difference between a strict newsfeed diet (where the newsfeed is automatically reduced to a minimum) and self-regulated newsfeed diet (where the newsfeed is reduced, but users can then manage its content). Our results indicate that both of these newsfeed diets are effective at reducing the time spent on Facebook's platform (-64% for the strict diet, -39% for the self-regulated diet). Our findings also suggest that these design interventions come with positive and negative user experiences such as increased self-awareness and fear of missing out (FOMO).