Over the past decade, smartphones have become an essential tool in our daily lives.
Wake up in the morning, check Moments for a while; on the way to work, check Weibo for a while; go to the toilet at the company, check Douyin for a while; eat lunch at noon, watch a drama for a while; sleepy in the afternoon, chat for a while gossip ; Go home at night and play games for a while; before going to bed, brush up on the circle of friends for a while.
It always feels like we are not playing with our phones, but our phones are playing with us. From neck pain to addictive behaviors, some of the negative consequences of smartphone overuse have been seen for all to see.
In this way, does the advent of smartphones really make our lives better? Or, are our lives really better without smartphones?
In order to investigate this question scientifically and rigorously, psychologists at the Center for Mental Health Research and Treatment at Ruhr-Universitt Bochum (RUB) in Germany conducted a Experimental intervention studies. Related research results were published in the recent Journal of Experimental Psychology.
Specifically, the researchers recruited 619 people to participate in the experiment and randomly divided them into three groups. Of these, 200 gave up their smartphones entirely for a week; 226 cut their smartphone use by an hour a day; and 193 kept their smartphone habits without making any changes.
Researchers followed up with all participants one month and four months after the intervention to learn about their lifestyle habits and well-being. Specific questions include, are they participating in more physical activity now? How many cigarettes do they smoke each day now? How satisfied are they with their current life? Are they showing any signs of anxiety or depression?
By comparing the effects of abstinence from smartphones completely versus reducing screen time each day, as well as changes in the life status of participants who continued to use smartphones, researchers found that reducing daily smartphone use was more effective in reducing daily smartphone use. A person’s well-being has a positive impact.
Reducing your smartphone use by an hour a day can reduce anxiety and increase life satisfaction. At the same time, life satisfaction and physical activity time also increased, and symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as nicotine consumption, decreased.
And the findings also found that in order to have a better, more satisfying life, and less anxiety, it’s not necessary to give up smartphone use entirely.
The one-week intervention changed participants’ usage habits in the long run, and even four months after the end of the experiment, group members who completely abstained from smartphones spent an average of 10 minutes per day on their smartphones That was 38 minutes less than before; while group members who used their smartphones for an hour less per day during the experiment, used their smartphones 45 minutes less per day four months later.
Study author Dr. Julia Brailovskaia, Center for Mental Health Research and Treatment, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, concludes, “There is no need to give up smartphones entirely, to find an optimal time of day to use it. Good.”
“We found that giving up smartphones entirely, or reducing their use by an hour a day had a positive impact on participants’ lifestyles and well-being,” says Julia Brailovskaia. In the reduced-use group, these effects lasted even longer and were therefore more stable than in the completely abstained group.”
On average, modern people spend more than three hours a day staring at a smartphone screen. We use our phones to check information, check maps, check email or the weather, shop, read the news, watch movies, and gossip on social media.
Actually, it is a common habit for many young people to use a mobile phone before going to bed or even after laying down with the lights turned off. However, this unhealthy habit can lead to late nights, less sleep, poor sleep, and increased daytime tiredness. While sleep plays an important role in emotional cognitive function, insufficient sleep, sleep restriction, and sleep disturbance may negatively affect emotional and cognitive function.
The increasing use of mobile phones makes it seem reasonable to doubt its negative effects. Previous related research has also shown that smartphone use is associated with problems such as decreased physical activity, obesity, neck pain, impaired performance and addiction-like behaviors. As Julia Brailovskaia said, “Smartphones are both a blessing and a curse.”
And this new study shows that making conscious and controllable changes to the time spent on smartphones each day can boost subjective well-being (reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, less tendency to use problems) , increased life satisfaction) and a healthier lifestyle (more physical activity, less smoking).
So in the long run, reducing smartphone use by 1 hour per day can have this positive effect, and of course there’s no need to reject phones altogether.
References
https:https://doi.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fxap0000430https:https://news.rub.de/english/2022-04-20-psychology- fewer-smartphones-more-well-being