first large-scale study measuring how much real monetary value people place on their social media networks was just published by MIT / Carnegie Mellon researchers.

asked 20k U.S. adults how much they'd have to be paid to give up Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, or X* or to use them without specific features for 1 month.

on average, users value them at $80 - $100/month. some interesting takeaways below:

1. direct connections ("local" network effects) drive 20 - 34% of platform value.

2. on FB and insta, strong ties (family, close friends) matter most. on LinkedIn and X, weaker ties (professional, acquaintances) are more valuable.

3. men value social network connections to women more than to men; women value connections to men and women equally.

4. features that boost active creation (posting, stories, reels) drive more platform value than just consuming.

5. low-income users derive more incremental value from FB Messenger (cheaper than paying for SMS or cell), FB and LinkedIn groups (helps with community, local buy/sell, economic mobility), and X Lists (relevant news or niche communities). 

only issue is that all respondents were 18+ and the average age of this study was... 44 years old. Gen Alpha and young Gen Z always drive the next wave of culture and consumer trends.

*would be interesting to do this study with 16 - 21 year olds and include TikTok and Snapchat. we don't know if they value creation tools, ephemeral content, and algos more or less than Millennial adults.

full study here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2507.04545

related study: blocking mobile internet for 2 weeks led to better mental health, sustained attention (improved by an equivalent to reversing 10 years of age-related cognitive decline!!), and subjective well-being.

only issue?

only 25% of participants were able to go the full two weeks offline.

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exactly!!!

i need to go back and see how much of it was without productivity-related (slack / email / safari) vs. personal (social media apps)

i'd use a phone if it had a) texting, b) calling, c) camera, d) podcast / audio, e) notes / calendar reminders

I'd actually live only with my Apple Watch if it had a camera

might as well just give up your smartphone entirely. without internet it seems pointless

i lost my phone hiking, didn't get a new one for a month

was pretty glorious. amazing how many people i met out and about without a phone

Creator economy person + Award-winning Producer🤘🏼god-tier hostess 🦉 migration updates 🦅

Yeah I feel like @rubinovitz is talking to me about this all the time and I see it in the kids my friends have - their development and lifestyles vary so much because of class and it directly impacts attention span in the kids

it is sad and black mirror-esque but given we've solved body productivity with $$ (GLP1s, surgeries, food), the next thing to solve is brain productivity. wealth divide will unfortunately be seen across dopamine vs. anti-dopamine tech as well.

Gotta start making the big bucks to go full weeks offline 🫠

Se siente mejor y no. Puedo amar más y más que antes. Lo que ella ha dicho siempre importa. 

Cambia de cuerpo, altera la mente, pero me arrodillo igual. ¡De ro

i was literally having breakfast this morning for the first time in more than a year without using screens it was so strange

i'm kind of struggling with this right now. One week off during, I felt amazing, less stressed, more happy, more self-confidence and realized none of this real-time, terminally connected social mattered. Decided I would try to prolong it or at least chill but as soon as I arrived home I'm as terminal as ever. Its a deep feeling of fomo, like i need to have this radar on to not miss something important and the Windsurf/Google drama is not important but finding out about the latest ai tools does feel that way. Woke up thinking about this and ways to adjust by intake radar.

I would love to do this! But information from my uni is only through social media (WhatsApp, Facebook) so i could easily miss lots of information about lectures etc

Specific to mobile data? The participants were able to use laptop/desktop internet as much as they wanted? We’re so cooked. 

I read this article today (it’s a little old) but related. I found this correspondence between Huxley and Orwell particularly poignant:

“I feel that the nightmare of 1984 is destined to modulate into the nightmare of a world having more resemblance to that which I imagined in Brave New World. The change will be brought about as a result of a felt need for increased efficiency.”

Specific to mobile data? The participants were able to use laptop/desktop internet as much as they wanted? We’re so cooked. 

I read this article today (it’s a little old) but related. I found this correspondence between Huxley and Orwell particularly poignant:

“I feel that the nightmare of 1984 is destined to modulate into the nightmare of a world having more resemblance to that which I imagined in Brave New World. The change will be brought about as a result of a felt need for increased efficiency.”

https://www.afterbabel.com/p/on-the-death-of-daydreaming

Open access, always nice to see. https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/2/pgaf017/8016017

That stat says everything. The benefits aren’t bad but most of us are just too deep in. I lowkey wanna try it though… just not sure if I’d make it past day 2 😬

Interesting study, I should look into it more.

Really? Tbh nowadays everything is with the internet i.e work, study, uni !

Noone can live without internet for 2 weeks!!!