A new study has revealed that Texas is among the top five most eager states to quit social media, with more than 150,000 searches per month related to deleting or deactivating accounts on Facebook and Instagram.
The research, organized by Recovered, used Google’s results to analyze over 1 million monthly searches from April 2024 to March 2025, compiling data from all 50 states and adjusting for their population differences. Texas tied with New York for fifth place in average monthly searches per 100,000 people (both at 506 searches per 100,000.)
Among Texans, the most searched-for phrases were:
- “Delete Instagram account”
- “Delete Facebook account”
- “Deactivate Facebook”
These patterns could show a growing weariness with some of the internet’s biggest social media giants, particularly Meta-owned platforms. Meta, a contentious umbrella owner that has recently seen growing criticism, even settled a lawsuit with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for $1.4 billion last year over personal data privacy violations, as previously covered by The Dallas Express.
While Hawaii led the nation with 568 monthly searches per 100,000 residents, followed by California and Nevada, Texas’s numbers stood out due to its sheer population size.
With more than 154,000 searches per month, the Lone Star State trailed only California in total searches.
Across the country, Instagram was the platform most users wanted to quit, generating more than 545,000 searches per month, barely edging out Facebook at 538,000.
James Wittams-Smith, founder of Recovered, says the trend to distance from social media could actually be related to its neurological impact on users.
“For those who engage with social media apps regularly, the process of scrolling and intaking images, posting and receiving positive affirmations from others, and other stimuli create the chemical, dopamine in the brain. The more you engage with social media and receive the rewarding dopamine hit it creates, the more your brain will seek it out to get another hit. This can lead to social media dependence and addiction,” Wittams-Smith explained.
Other experts point to a combination of factors that may be pushing Texans off the social media map, including digital fatigue, stressful politics, privacy concerns, and a desire to reclaim real-world connections or experiences.
In recent years, Texans have continued to show subtle signs that they are recalibrating their relationship with the digital world, and now the SEO search results are starting to show that.
According to the Recovered study, here’s a quick look at which platforms Americans are most eager to quit:
1. Instagram – 545,449 monthly searches
2. Facebook – 538,533
3. X – 155,862
4. Snapchat – 88,234
5. Telegram – 67,148
While newer apps like Threads and Telegram have gained traction, they’re also being included in searches about deletion or deactivation. This is just another signal that many users are not rejecting one platform but questioning social media as a whole.