Across all social media platforms, the challenges remain consistent, forcing users toward the biggest digital dilemma of our time — quitting social media. The algorithmic grip, constant comparison, and notifications prove to be too much, consistently encouraging an addictive user behavior. Now more than ever, people are questioning social media and are looking for ways to stay away.
The search data reveals growing unease, with nearly two million U.S. users looking for ways to delete or deactivate one of their social media accounts each month. Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, and X account for the majority of searches related to social media deactivation.
Key takeaways
- Instagram is the number one social network that U.S. users want to delete or deactivate
- Almost two million U.S. users each month want to delete one of their social accounts on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, or X
- Each fifth Facebook user who deleted their account regrets their decision and wants to recover it
- Only 5% of users who want to delete their Instagram account would consider alternative options, like temporarily suspending it
- Nearly the same number of X and Instagram users are looking for alternatives to deleting their accounts, such as blocking or deactivating
- TikTok users are five times more likely to reactivate their accounts compared to Instagram users
- Less than 4% of YouTube users are willing to restart their accounts
#1 Instagram
An average American spends more than 30 minutes per day scrolling through Instagram. That’s nearly two full working days per month wasted on comparisons and self-presentation. With over 2 billion monthly active users, the platform was built for connection and creativity, yet the real driving force behind its success is the dopamine cycle of validation that it triggers in the human brain. A Journal of Behavioral Addictions study found that one in three Instagram users has a mild or severe addiction that’s becoming increasingly difficult to break. With statistics like those, it’s hard to deny that users are struggling to use the platform in a sustainable way.
Nearly 600,000 users each month look for ways to delete or deactivate their Instagram accounts, yet only 5% consider less permanent solutions, such as temporarily suspending their accounts. This suggests that frustration is deeper than momentary fatigue.
The platform itself admits there’s a problem and even added features to help people spend less time on it. But despite that, the constant scrolling and self-comparison still lead to burnout, making deleting the account feel like the only way out.
#2 TikTok
While staying right behind Instagram in terms of users looking to quit social media platforms, TikTok consumes its users at an unprecedented rate. With over 1.6 billion monthly active users worldwide, it has been identified as the most addictive social media platform, featuring intricate algorithms that hyper-personalize their way into consistent micro-hits of dopamine delivered straight from our phones. The fact that an average American spends nearly an hour per day on TikTok makes it hard to deny that TikTok is distorting time perception and stealing away our lives.
In 2020, the Trump administration threatened to ban TikTok due to concerns about data safety and public opinion manipulation. The conversation served as a reminder that our beliefs are heavily dependent on what we consume online. Now, in 2025, the ban threat is back on the table, once again raising questions about the true cost of quick entertainment.
Despite widespread awareness of TikTok’s psychological and informational costs, the number of users looking to delete their accounts remains smaller than that of Instagram, with nearly 460 thousand monthly searches. What’s even more interesting is that almost 70 thousand users per month are looking to restore their accounts, making them five times more likely to reactivate their accounts compared to Instagram users.
#3 Snapchat
With its unique approach to displaying content that disappears after viewing, augmented reality filters, and peer-to-peer messaging, Snapchat is primarily appealing to younger audiences. The platform has now attracted more than 900 million users, but the social media pressures remain the same. Privacy concerns, algorithmic hooking, and the users’ tendency to post for the sake of impressing rather than expressing themselves.
Snapchat’s viral popularity among younger generations didn’t go unnoticed. In the first part of 2025, the state of Florida filed a lawsuit against Snap Inc., accusing the platform of intentionally pushing features that hooked children into obsessive platform use. However, despite these concerns, its user base continued to grow, with the monthly search interest for deleting accounts steadily declining since 2024. The latest data reveals global stagnation in the user base, so further account deletions would indicate a turning point, showing that even younger users are starting to lose interest and break free from the app’s grip.
#4 Facebook
For years, Facebook has remained the second most popular social media platform, with 3.07 billion monthly active users. Unlike with other platforms, sentiment is the driving force for the platform’s stability. Used primarily by older demographics, it often serves as a digital memory box and a space to maintain family and friendship ties from a distance.
The perseverance, however, won’t last forever, with Facebook users becoming increasingly frustrated with Meta’s privacy policies. In early 2025, a backlash against the discontinuation of the third-party fact-checking program was followed by an increase in Google search interest in “how to delete Facebook” and similar queries. Yet one in five users who deleted their Facebook accounts later attempted account recoveries, as revealed by sentiment behind search engine searches.
#5 X
X once served as an outlet for exchanging public ideas and opinions, but it has effectively transitioned into a platform that promotes disagreements rather than ideas, reaching 586 million monthly active users. The anger that X provokes stimulates the same neural circuits as pleasure, leading to addictive user behavior. This fundamental reward mechanism is exploited, leading to frustrated users seeking a break from the platform’s grip.
The pressure to keep up with public opinion on politics further strengthens the algorithmic grip over its users, with three out of five users claiming they use the platform to stay informed about politics. Yet the constant exposure to outrage feeds a compulsion that more than a quarter of a million users seek to break free from every month. The urge to leave grew stronger after Elon Musk’s 2022 takeover, when deregulation and declining trust turned the platform into a space of ongoing chaos.
Interestingly, nearly the same share of X and Instagram users look for less drastic options than account deletion, such as blocking or temporary deactivation.
#6 YouTube
YouTube remains the most popular social media platform, and its reign shows no signs of ending. Arguably, the reason behind its consistency in popularity is the purpose it serves. Used both for entertainment and education, YouTube is favored by more than 2.7 billion monthly active users. You can even consume its content without ever logging in, demonstrating the profound integration into the daily infrastructure that we use.
Against its vast user base, the interest in account deletion remains relatively low, with a monthly interest of 185 thousand. Despite growing frustration with AI-generated content flooding the platform, the user base has remained consistent since 2022.
#7 LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the one social media platform where productivity disguises its addictiveness. With approximately 310 million monthly active users, the platform has evolved into a space where resume archives have been replaced by personal branding. Users are hooked on measuring self-growth through the performance of others, titles, and commonly misrepresented performance metrics. This dynamic of ambition and insecurity keeps a steady pressure on users to remain active. Despite the pressure, users’ interest in deleting their accounts remains low, with only 15 thousand monthly searches.
#8 Reddit
Community serves as the biggest driving force behind Reddit, with an estimated 110.4 million daily active users. Unlike other platforms, the majority of Reddit users remain anonymous, contributing to highly specialized “subreddits” that ultimately create a very intimate feel to the space. The reward mechanism remains balanced, with upvotes highlighting the most meaningful contributions and comments allowing users to express their opinions. Reddit’s value lies in its community, so leaving the platform is often perceived as abandoning a community. The low exit numbers confirm that, with only 8 thousand monthly searches for deleting accounts.
#9 Pinterest
Pinterest has earned its place in users’ hearts by serving as a visual search engine and a planning tool. With 578 million active monthly users, its user base is heavily skewed towards female users. The DIY, home decor, fashion, and mood-board appeal remains unmatched by any other platform, so the high user retention rate comes as no surprise, with only 7,120 monthly searches indicating a desire to quit.
#10 Threads
Launched in 2023, Threads is the youngest social media addition to the most used platforms. Owned by Meta Platforms, it serves as a micro-blogging space. Thanks to its integration into Instagram, the platform gained significant momentum, reaching 400 million active monthly users in just two years. The algorithmic suggestions feed real-time conversations, so each post has the potential to spark a public conversation immediately. The flip side is its integration with Meta, making the decision to leave more difficult due to cross-platform connections. For the time being, interest in exit remains low, with 6,480 total monthly searches.
Methodology
This study reveals the user intent behind Google search across the ten most popular social media platforms in the United States, as identified in the Pew Research Center report.
To measure user intent to quit or deactivate social media, we used Semrush Keyword Analytics to collect and group all relevant Google search variations related to account deletion, deactivation, or recovery for each platform. Queries included terms such as “delete Instagram account,” “deactivate Facebook,” “how to disable YouTube,” and similar user-intent phrases.
We then compiled monthly U.S. search volumes for these terms to estimate the scale of interest in leaving each platform. The full dataset reflects average monthly search behavior as of 2025, revealing which social media platforms users are most eager to quit.
You can access the full dataset here.
