Fewer smartphones, more well-being
Date:
April 20, 2022
Source:
Ruhr-University Bochum
Summary:
How much digital detox is necessary to live a better life? The
good news is that we don't have to waive them completely.
FULL STORY ==========================================================================
We blame smartphone use for a number of negative consequences, ranging
from neck pain to addictive behavior. Privat-Dozentin Dr. Julia
Brailovskaia and her team set out to determine whether our lives are
actually better without smartphones, or rather: how much less smartphone
use per day is good for us.
The psychologist from the Mental Health Research and Treatment Center at
Ruhr- Universita"t Bochum (RUB) had around 200 test participants each
do without their smartphones completely for a week, reduce their daily
use by one hour or use the smartphone in the same way as before. Their
findings show: in the long term, those who reduced their use fared
best. The researcher report in the Journal of Experimental Psychology:
Applied from 7 April 2022.
==========================================================================
How much smartphone use is good for us? On average, we spend more than
three hours a day glued to our smartphone screens. We google, look for directions, check emails or the weather, shop, read the news, watch films,
hang out on social media. It seems reasonable to suspect that all this
is not good for us. Studies have shown that smartphone use is linked to problems such as less physical activity, obesity, neck pain, impaired performance, and addiction-like behavior -- to name just a few. "The
smartphone is both a blessing and a curse," says Julia Brailovskaia.
Her team wanted to know: how much smartphone is good for us? To this end,
the researchers compared the effect of complete smartphone abstinence
versus a reduction in time spent daily looking at the screen and versus continued use without any changes. They recruited 619 people for their
study and divided them randomly into three groups. 200 people put their smartphone completely aside for a week. 226 reduced the amount of time
they used the device by one hour a day. 193 people didn't change anything
in their behavior.
Physical activity, cigarettes, life satisfaction, anxiety, depression The researchers interviewed all participants about their lifestyle habits
and well-being immediately after the intervention, one month and four
months later.
How much did they engage in physical activity? How many cigarettes did
they smoke a day? How satisfied with their life did they feel? Did they
show any signs of anxiety or depression? "We found that both completely
giving up the smartphone and reducing its daily use by one hour had
positive effects on the lifestyle and well-being of the participants,"
as Julia Brailovskaia sums up the results. "In the group who reduced
use, these effects even lasted longer and were thus more stable than
in the abstinence group." It's not necessary to do completely without
The one-week intervention changed the participants' usage habits in
the long term: even four months after the end of the experiment, the
members of the abstinence group used their smartphone on average 38
minutes less per day than before. The group who had spent one hour less
per day with the smartphone during the experiment used it as much as 45
minutes less per day after four months than before. At the same time, life satisfaction and time spent being physically active increased. Symptoms of depression and anxiety as well as nicotine consumption decreased. "It's
not necessary to completely give up the smartphone to feel better,"
concludes Brailovskaia. "There may be an optimal daily usage time."
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Ruhr-University_Bochum. Original
written by Meike Driessen. Note: Content may be edited for style and
length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Julia Brailovskaia, Jasmin Delveaux, Julia John, Vanessa Wicker,
Alina
Noveski, Seokyoung Kim, Holger Schillack, Ju"rgen Margraf. Finding
the "sweet spot" of smartphone use: Reduction or abstinence to
increase well- being and healthy lifestyle?! An experimental
intervention study..
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 2022; DOI: 10.1037/
xap0000430 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220420133554.htm
--- up 7 weeks, 2 days, 10 hours, 51 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)