From Study to Headline: Freedom in The Washington Post

We wanted to share something we’re incredibly proud of. A study published in PNAS Nexus was recently featured in The Washington Post, with a headline that got a lot of attention:

“This detox may erase 10 years of social media brain damage, researchers say.”

That headline’s hard to ignore. Freedom was the tool used in the research, so the article introduced thousands of people to us for the first time.  

The connection goes back a few years. In 2022, researcher Dr. Noah Castelo from the University of Alberta reached out to us while designing the experiment. He needed a way to block mobile internet (apps and websites) for participants that was consistent, reliable, and didn’t introduce new variables or distractions. He also needed something participants couldn’t easily work around. 

For two weeks, participants used the Freedom app on their phones to block the internet. They could still make calls and send texts, but apps and web access were cut off.

What the study found was remarkably interesting and surprised even the researchers, as they note in the Washington Post article. When mobile internet access was removed, participants cut their time online nearly in half, from 314 minutes to 161 minutes per day. By the end of the study, they showed measurable improvements in attention, mental health, and overall well-being. On some attention measures, the gains were comparable to about 10 years of age-related decline, with similarly strong effects on depression symptoms. 

We’ve worked with researchers for years, and this wasn’t the first time Freedom has been used in a landmark study. They come to us because we’ve been focused on this problem for a long time, and because the technology behind Freedom has been built and refined over more than a decade. It goes back to how Freedom started – our founder and CEO, Fred Stutzman, was an academic researcher who built the first version for himself while working on his PhD. 

What stood out with the Washington Post article was how widely it spread and how strong the response has been from new Freedom users. The coverage reached thousands of people who recognized how much their mobile device habits affect their attention and wellbeing, and they responded by seeking us out.  

If you use Freedom, you know what happens when distractions are blocked and you see that green screen telling you that you’re “free.”  You’re able to do deeper, higher quality work, stay focused on any task, be more present with friends and family, and generally live a better life. 

We’re proud to have been part of this study and others like it. And we’re grateful to all of you who use Freedom every day. You can celebrate with us. You’re doing the right thing!