Working Paper: NBER ID: w25514
Authors: Hunt Allcott; Luca Braghieri; Sarah Eichmeyer; Matthew Gentzkow
Abstract: The rise of social media has provoked both optimism about potential societal benefits and concern about harms such as addiction, depression, and political polarization. In a randomized experiment, we find that deactivating Facebook for the four weeks before the 2018 US midterm election (i) reduced online activity, while increasing offline activities such as watching TV alone and socializing with family and friends; (ii) reduced both factual news knowledge and political polarization; (iii) increased subjective well-being; and (iv) caused a large persistent reduction in post-experiment Facebook use. Deactivation reduced post-experiment valuations of Facebook, suggesting that traditional metrics may overstate consumer surplus.
Keywords: Social Media; Welfare Effects; Facebook; Political Polarization; Subjective Wellbeing
JEL Codes: D12; D90; I31; L86; O33
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Facebook deactivation (Y60) | online activity (L86) |
| Facebook deactivation (Y60) | Facebook use (Y90) |
| Facebook deactivation (Y60) | offline activities (Y80) |
| Facebook deactivation (Y60) | news consumption (D10) |
| Facebook deactivation (Y60) | factual news knowledge (G53) |
| Facebook deactivation (Y60) | subjective wellbeing (I31) |
| Facebook deactivation (Y60) | post-experiment Facebook use (C91) |