Percentage who later regret each choice. Bars and full ledger render below.
Lifestyle
Last reviewed 2026-04-26
Evidence quality 3.75/5
Eight-dimension review score against the
quality rubric
. Each dimension scored 1–5.
D1 Source verification
4/5
D2 Source authority & independence
3/5
D3 Regret-rate accuracy
2/5
D4 Source comparability
3/5
D5 Gilovich pattern
5/5
D6 Prose quality
5/5
D7 Caveat completeness
5/5
D8 Sample quality
3/5
Average3.75/5
Proxy data — no direct regret survey exists for this decision. Rates are derived from satisfaction scores and access-barrier data rather than questions that directly asked about regret. See caveats below.
Action regret
Staying on social media
45%
45% regret heavy social media use in younger years
Adults in Asia-Pacific, online panel (active social media users)
retrospective, no fixed timeframe
Inaction regret
Deleting social media accounts
14%
~14% of Facebook deleters reported no change in happiness (0% were less happy) — a satisfaction-neutral ceiling, not measured regret
US adults who deleted or deactivated Facebook
retrospective, no fixed timeframe
% who regret this choice
Staying on social mediaDeleting social media accounts
45%14%
action dominates — Action dominates — most regret acting.
Related decisions
Semantically similar decisions — same territory, different trade-offs.
Nearly 45% of adults who are active on social media say they regret
how much they used it when they were younger, according to a Kaspersky
survey of 1,240 working professionals across six Asia-Pacific countries
(Australia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam). On the
other side, Security.org’s survey of 1,012 US adults found that roughly
14% of those who deleted Facebook reported no change in happiness
afterward, 86% described themselves as happier, and 0% said they were
less happy. That survey never asks “do you regret deleting?”, so the
true deletion-regret rate it implies is closer to zero than to 14% — the
~14% is the satisfaction-neutral group, a conservative ceiling rather
than a measured regret rate. The implied ratio favors
deletion, but the comparison is imprecise: one survey measures
retrospective volume regret among current users, the other measures
post-deletion mood among a self-selected group of quitters.
The strongest experimental evidence comes from Hunt, Marx, Lipson, and
Young (2018) at the University of Pennsylvania. In a randomized
controlled trial, 143 undergraduates were assigned to either limit
Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat to 10 minutes per platform per day or
use social media as usual for three weeks. The limited-use group showed
significant reductions in loneliness and depression compared to
controls over the three weeks. This is one of the few studies
establishing a causal (not merely correlational) link between social
media reduction and improved well-being.
The main weakness in framing this as a clean action-vs-inaction pair is
that “deleting social media” is rarely a permanent, total act. Many
deleters migrate to other platforms, reactivate after a few months, or
simply reduce usage without full deletion. The Security.org survey
focused exclusively on Facebook, not all social media. The Kaspersky
figure applies to Asia-Pacific professionals, not a globally
representative sample. What the data does suggest, directionally, is that
sustained heavy use generates more stated regret than leaving does —
a finding corroborated by Hunt et al.’s experimental evidence that
reduction causes genuine well-being improvement.
Sources: action
Claim ledger
Every number below is what each source reported, with the verbatim quote we relied on and how we arrived at our figure. Click any link to verify directly.
1/2 sources independently verified verbatim against the cited source
[1]Cyber Magazine / Kaspersky — 45% of people regret using social media in younger years
Verified
Reference source
45% of respondents regret using social media as much as they did when they were younger
Excerpt
“"45 percent of people regret using social media as much as they did when they were younger. Old social posts can present challenges with job applications and progression."
”
Source data from
2020-09-15
Accessed
2026-04-26
Verification
Excerpt independently re-fetched and confirmed word-for-word against the cited source during our grounding audit.
Calculation
Kaspersky Digital Reputation Economy survey conducted by YouGov in November 2020 across six Asia-Pacific countries (Australia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam), n = 1,240 working professionals who use social media at least 1 hour/day. The 45% figure captures retrospective regret about volume of past social media use, not current-session regret. Population is Asia-Pacific, not global — earlier descriptions of this as a "global" survey were inaccurate.
[2]Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology — No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression
Peer-reviewed
Limiting social media to 30 minutes/day significantly reduced loneliness and depression over 3 weeks compared to unrestricted use
Excerpt
“"The limited use group showed significant reductions in loneliness and depression over three weeks compared to the control group."
”
Source data from
2018-11-01
Accessed
2026-04-26
Calculation
Hunt, Marx, Lipson & Young (2018), University of Pennsylvania. 143 undergraduates randomized to limit Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat to 10 min each/day vs use-as-usual for 3 weeks. Limited-use group showed significant reductions in loneliness and depression. Provides experimental evidence that reduced use improves well-being, supporting the action-side regret finding. Does not provide a binary regret rate itself.
Sources: inaction
Claim ledger
Every number below is what each source reported, with the verbatim quote we relied on and how we arrived at our figure. Click any link to verify directly.
1/2 sources independently verified verbatim against the cited source
[1]Security.org — Detailing the Delete Facebook Phenomenon
Verified
Reference source
Of those who deleted/deactivated Facebook: 45.6% significantly happier, 40.5% slightly happier, 13.9% neither more nor less happy, 0% less happy. The survey measures happiness change, not regret.
Excerpt
“"Nearly half of them (46 percent) said they were significantly happier after getting rid of Facebook, while 41 percent said it made them slightly happier."
”
Source data from
2021-01-15
Accessed
2026-04-26
Verification
Excerpt independently re-fetched and confirmed word-for-word against the cited source during our grounding audit.
Calculation
Security.org surveyed 1,012 US adults who had ever held a Facebook account. Among those who deleted or deactivated, the happiness breakdown was: 45.6% significantly happier, 40.5% slightly happier (86% happier total), 13.9% neither more nor less happy, and 0% less happy (0% slightly less + 0% significantly less). The survey asks ONLY about happiness change — it never asks "do you regret deleting?" Because 0% reported being less happy, the true deletion-regret rate implied by this data is near zero, not 14%. The ~14% we surface is the satisfaction-NEUTRAL group used as a conservative ceiling on the share who felt no benefit — a proxy, not a measured regret rate (hence proxy_only: true). Note: article was updated/republished in 2025 but original data collection was 2021.
[2]University of Michigan / Michigan Medicine — Many young people recognize negative impact of social media and have considered deleting accounts
Primary study
More than half of 14-24-year-olds have deleted or thought about deleting social media accounts due to bullying, misinformation, safety risks, and distressing content
Excerpt
“"More than half of respondents ages 14-24 said they've deleted or thought about deleting accounts. Reasons include bullying, misinformation, safety risks, fakeness and distressing content."
”
Source data from
2022-11-01
Accessed
2026-04-26
Calculation
University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, November 2022. Over 50% of young people have deleted or considered deleting accounts. Corroborates that deletion intent is common and driven by negative experiences, not impulsive decisions likely to generate regret.
Caveats
The action and inaction figures come from different surveys with different populations and different operationalizations of "regret." The Kaspersky 45% measures retrospective regret about past usage volume among Asia-Pacific working professionals (not "global" as previously described — the survey was conducted by YouGov in six Asia-Pacific countries in November 2020). The Security.org ~14% is an imputed ceiling: it is the satisfaction-neutral group ("neither more nor less happy", 13.9%) from a happiness measure among US Facebook deleters — not a direct regret question. Critically, 0% of deleters said they were less happy, so the true deletion-regret rate implied by the data is near zero; the ~14% is a conservative upper bound on the share who felt no benefit, carried as a proxy (proxy_only: true). These are different constructs (stated regret about volume vs happiness change after deletion) measured on different populations (Asia-Pacific professionals vs US Facebook users). Hunt et al. (2018, U Penn, n=143) provides the strongest experimental evidence: randomly limiting social media to 30 min/day significantly reduced depression and loneliness, suggesting that heavy use genuinely causes harm rather than merely correlating with it. Facebook deletion is not equivalent to deleting all social media; people who leave one platform often migrate to another. The roughly 3:1 ratio should be read as directionally suggestive — those who stay are more likely to express regret than those who leave — but the precise magnitude is weakly grounded.
