Passive scrolling and active posting are not the same exposure
The best-replicated finding in this area is that passive consumption — scrolling without interacting — tracks with lower wellbeing, while active, reciprocal use with people you actually know tracks neutral to positive. If your comparison item is high, changing what you do on the platform often helps more than changing how long.
Curate before you quit
Full abstinence is hard to sustain and unnecessary for most people. Aggressively unfollowing the accounts that drive the comparison item, and removing the app from the phone while keeping web access, produce most of the benefit at a fraction of the cost.
FAQ
Is this the Bergen scale?
It is modelled on the same six-component framework used by well-known research scales. It is an educational tool and not the validated instrument itself.
Does deleting social media improve mood?
Trials of week-long breaks show small-to-moderate improvements in wellbeing on average, with the largest effects among the heaviest passive users.
What about teenagers?
The same components apply, but sleep displacement and social comparison carry more weight. Device-out-of-bedroom is the highest-yield single rule.
How this calculator is built
Independently maintained
Written by Sam Doshi and the RevenueLab editorial team. We don't sell the data feeds this tool is built on.
Sourced from primary data
Benchmarks come from public AdSense / Stripe / IRS disclosures and reader-submitted data — never third-party "$X per view" claims. Full methodology.
Last editorial review
Reviewed on a rolling quarterly cycle. Dated reviews are published on the methodology record for each calculator.
Editorial standards
See our editorial policy and disclaimer. Results are estimates, not advice.