A recent study by researchers at the University of British Columbia and Germany’s Media Lab suggests that prolonged use of smartphones can have a negative impact on mental health and social connections.Unlike previous studies that relied on self-reported data, this study Journal of social and personal relationships employed direct tracking of screen time and uncovered a “vicious cycle” in which feeling less socially connected leads to increased smartphone use.
The role smartphones play in our mental well-being is the subject of intense debate among researchers. Studies to date have yielded mixed results, with some suggesting negative effects, particularly for teenagers, and others arguing that the effects are minimal. One major limitation is the reliance on self-reported smartphone usage, which is often inaccurate. This study aims to fill the gap by tracking actual screen time and measuring its impact on well-being and social connectedness.
This study aims to resolve inconsistencies in existing research by directly measuring smartphone use and its effects over time. Over the course of six days, the participant was checked in multiple times throughout her day and had her well-being and sense of social connectedness measured to provide more nuanced and reliable insights.
The study involved 325 Android users aged 14 to 80, primarily from the University of British Columbia and surrounding areas, 58% of whom were female. Participants installed the screen tracking app BeTrack and completed surveys three times a day for six days. He used advanced statistical techniques known as multilevel models to analyze the data and test his two hypotheses about how smartphone use disrupts or replaces offline social interaction.
The results found that increased smartphone use within an hour was associated with decreased happiness in the immediate aftermath, but offline social interaction alleviated some of this negative effect. . Increased use of smartphones has led to people feeling less socially connected, especially for people with average or above-average levels of offline social interaction. In other words, a two-way relationship occurred. In other words, as people become less connected, smartphone use increases, which in turn leads to even less connection.
“For individuals, we found that increased cell phone use in the hour before the survey was associated with a decrease in momentary happiness. We found no evidence of a reverse pathway; The declines did not occur before increased smartphone use time, suggesting that smartphone use may lead to decreased happiness, but not vice versa,” the researchers said. is writing.
“In addition to well-being, we were also interested in examining the impact of smartphone use on feelings of social connectedness. The dynamics over time show that increases in phone use time within the same individual predicted decreases in social connections, and suggested that these decreases in social connections predicted increases in smartphone use. This suggests that there is a strong relationship between the two, and may indicate the risk of a vicious cycle.”
Although this study is unique in finding a relationship between smartphone screen time and happiness, it is important to note that it could not conclusively prove causality and was limited to Android users. Additionally, the study did not differentiate between types of smartphone use, among other demographic limitations, and the app only recorded actual screen time when the screen was on and not when the screen was off. The amount of time the phone was used in the state (for example, playing music, listening to podcasts, etc.).
the study, “Directly measured smartphone screen time predicts well-being and sense of social connectednesswas written by Christine Anderl, Marlise Hofer, and Frances Chen from the Everyday Media Lab in Germany and the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada.
