About
Built by people who got suspicious.
Social Breathalyzer is a free tool that uses real instruments to tell you what the apps are doing to your attention, sleep, and mood. Plus a feature that reads your actual platform data so you can see the receipts.
Who built it
Chris Carberg — Founder, editor
Co-founder of D50 Media / Marion Media Group. Twenty-plus years building health and consumer-protection sites that have to be both readable and factually defensible. The voice on this site is his fault.
Clinical content on this site is reviewed against the original published scales (BSMAS, SAS-SV, NMP-Q, SMDS) and against the U.S. Surgeon General's 2023 advisory on social media and youth mental health. Wherever we cite a claim, the source is in the "receipts" section at the bottom of the article.
We're not a licensed clinical practice. We don't diagnose anything. If you need a clinician, we link several real referral paths in the disclaimer at the bottom of every test result.
Why this exists
The platforms publicly say they care about user wellbeing. Then they keep infinite scrolls, autoplay, push notifications, and algorithms tuned to whatever holds your attention longest, which is — by the receipts — not the same thing as wellbeing.
Their own data tells a different story than their press releases. By law, they have to hand it over when you ask. They make it hard on purpose. We do the homework so you can see what they have on you.
What we won't do
- →Gate the tests behind an email. Ever.
- →Sell your data. No business model where that's profitable for us.
- →Read the contents of your messages, photos, or videos. Only the activity logs.
- →Pretend a test result is a diagnosis. There is no DSM diagnosis for any of this. We're not playing doctor.
- →Use infinite scroll, algorithmic feeds, or notification dark patterns on this site. We'd be hypocrites.
What we're cautious about
We're snarky. We try not to lie. When we use words like "they did this on purpose," it's because there's a public document — leaked internal research, a Senate hearing transcript, a Surgeon General advisory, a peer-reviewed paper — backing it up. We link the receipts at the bottom of every article.
If we get something wrong — let us know. hello@socialbreathalyzer.ai. We'll fix it. We won't quietly delete it.