According to a report by Metro (UK) on September 10, 2026, for most of her life, Isabel Fraser says she never considered herself dependent on substances such as alcohol, illegal drugs or even vaping. She quit vaping on New Year’s Eve in 2023 after years of using blueberry-flavoured disposable vapes, and because it was relatively easy, she assumed she had never been addicted.
But she eventually realised there was another form of dependency that did not come with obvious physical warning signs: social media.
Although concerns about the psychological effects of excessive social media use have become increasingly common, Isabel says she belonged to a generation that was largely overlooked when it came to growing up alongside rapidly developing digital platforms.
Her parents had established sensible boundaries, but during lockdown at the age of 16, she downloaded TikTok and began spending hours scrolling through videos. She eventually deleted the app after recognising that her usage was becoming unhealthy.
The social media experience had changed considerably by 2018, when Musical.ly evolved into TikTok. The short-video format became extremely popular and was subsequently adopted by other major platforms through features such as YouTube Shorts, Snapchat Spotlight and Instagram Reels.
According to Isabel, social media had gradually transformed from a tool for keeping in touch with friends into a system designed to compete aggressively for people's attention through algorithms that encourage continuous scrolling.
She says she still experienced the familiar feeling of watching one video after another in the hope of finding something particularly entertaining, only to realise that hours had disappeared. The attraction is partly linked to the brain's response to rewarding content and the dopamine associated with discovering something enjoyable.
The amount of time people spend online has also become a growing concern. Isabel cites research showing that adults in the UK spend an average of around two hours and 21 minutes each day scrolling, messaging, posting and sharing content.
After one particularly shocking day when her own screen time reached seven hours, she decided to take a complete break from social media for four weeks.
In the first week, she chose to stop using the platforms altogether. Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube were removed from her phone.
Initially, she felt noticeably lighter and was surprised by how productive she became. She did not immediately miss the apps and found that her surroundings no longer had to compete with her phone for her attention.
However, by the second day, she noticed herself instinctively reaching for her phone and tapping the area where Instagram had previously been. She realised that the habit had become almost automatic.
Instead of spending so much time online, she began reading more and even started watching television series again, something she had not regularly done for years.
The positive effects did not last completely, however. After several days, she began feeling that something was missing. She was no longer automatically aware of what her friends were doing and started experiencing the fear of missing out.
The second week proved to be more difficult. When she met friends, she noticed that they sometimes discussed events she knew nothing about because she had not seen them online.
She had to change her approach and began making more effort to contact friends directly. Although she had previously disliked making phone calls, she started to appreciate the value of speaking to people rather than relying entirely on social media.
Her sleeping habits also changed. Previously, she often spent time watching Reels before falling asleep or drifting off while watching YouTube. Without those distractions, she began reading several chapters of a book during her commute and continued reading before bed.
She found that replacing late-night scrolling with reading made her mind feel considerably quieter. Her dreams became less vivid and she began waking up feeling more refreshed.
By the third week, Isabel noticed an even greater difference. She felt that her mind was becoming calmer and that the mental fog she often experienced in the mornings was disappearing.
She found herself struggling less to remember words and became more aware of what was happening around her.
With more free time, she also returned to journalling. She began keeping a gratitude journal in which she recorded three positive things she noticed each day, such as seeing a cute dog on a train, receiving a compliment from a colleague or spotting a beautiful cloud.
She realised that many of these small moments would previously have passed unnoticed because she had been using every spare second to scroll through her phone.
There were still moments when she became bored, and she admitted that she sometimes watched YouTube on her computer. However, she felt that watching a longer video on a laptop was very different from endlessly consuming five-second clips at high speed.
By the fourth week, Isabel says she had become completely convinced by the benefits of taking a break. She started watching films on television without constantly checking her phone.
Previously, she would divide her attention between a film and her phone, occasionally missing important dialogue and having to rewind. Now she could watch the entire film without being distracted.
Although she still experienced occasional fear of missing out, the feeling had become much weaker. She had also developed a comfortable routine of regularly checking in with people she cared about rather than depending on social media to know what was happening in their lives.
She found that she had more time, a broader perspective, a calmer mind and better sleep. Overall, she felt noticeably happier.
At the end of the four weeks, however, Isabel was preparing for a once-in-a-lifetime trip with a friend and wanted to document and share the experience, so she decided to reinstall Instagram.
This time, she created a strict rule for herself: she would not watch Reels. She managed to stick to it and felt that, for the first time in years, she was controlling her use of the platform rather than allowing the platform to control her.
After returning from the trip, however, she noticed old habits beginning to return. She found herself waiting for Instagram to load during her commute, scrolling before bed and becoming less present in her surroundings.
As a result, she deleted Instagram once again because she recognised it as the platform most likely to become unhealthy for her.
Looking back on the experience, Isabel says she would encourage others to consider taking a break from social media. She believes a digital detox can give the mind an opportunity to slow down and reset.
After four weeks away from social media, she says she is now better able to use it without feeling controlled by it. The experience has helped her regain a sense of balance and made it easier for her to put her phone down when she wants to be fully present in real life.
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