Do pop-up notifications regarding smartphone use decrease screen time, phone checking behavior, and self-reported problematic smartphone use? Evidence from a two-month experimental study

Problematic smartphone usage, objective smartphone engagement, and executive functions: A latent variable analysis

The negative consequences of smartphone usage have seen frequent discourse in popular media. While existing studies seek to resolve these debates in relation to executive functions, findings are still limited and mixed. This is partly due to the lack of conceptual clarity about smartphone usage, the use of self-reported measures, and problems related to task impurity. Addressing these limitations, the current study utilizes a latent variable approach to examine various types of smartphone usage, including objectively measured data-logged screen time and screen-checking, and nine executive function tasks in 260 young adults through a multi-session study. Our structural equation models showed no evidence that self-reported normative smartphone usage, objective screen time, and objective screen-checking are associated with deficits in latent factors of inhibitory control, task-switching, and working memory capacity. Only self-reported problematic smartphone usage was associated with deficits in latent factor task-switching. These findings shed light on the boundary conditions of the link between smartphone usage and executive functions and suggest that smartphone usage in moderation may not have inherent harms on cognitive functions.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Apps Designed to Reduce Mobile Phone Use and Prevent Maladaptive Mobile Phone Use: Multimethod Study

BACKGROUND

Mobile apps are a popular strategy for reducing mobile phone use and preventing maladaptive mobile phone use (MMPU). Previous research efforts have been made to understand the features of apps that have the potential to reduce mobile phone use and MMPU. However, there has been a lack of a comprehensive examination of the effectiveness of such apps and their features.

OBJECTIVE

This paper investigated existing apps designed to reduce mobile phone use and prevent MMPU and examined the evidence of their effectiveness. The research aimed to provide a comprehensive analysis of app features that can reduce mobile phone use and MMPU, while also assessing their effectiveness. In addition, we explored users' perceptions of these apps and the various features the apps offer to understand potential adoption issues and identify opportunities.

METHODS

This study used 3 methods: a review of scientific evidence, content analysis, and sentiment analysis.

RESULTS

Our study comprehensively examine the common features of 13 apps designed to reduce mobile phone use. We extracted and classified the features into 7 types: self-tracking, social tracking, goal setting, blocking, gamification, simplification, and assessment. The effectiveness of these apps in reducing mobile phone use and MMPU varied from weak to strong. On the basis of content analysis, self-tracking and goal setting were the most frequently used features, whereas gamification and assessment were used the least frequently. The intervention strategies that effectively reduce mobile phone use and MMPU included using grayscale mode, app limit features, and mixed interventions. Overall, users tended to accept these apps, as indicated by sentiment scores ranging from 61 to 86 out of 100.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates that app-based management has the potential to reduce mobile phone use and MMPU. However, further research is required to evaluate the effectiveness of app-based interventions. Collaborations among researchers, app developers, mobile phone manufacturers, and policy makers could enhance the process of delivering, evaluating, and optimizing apps aimed at reducing mobile phone use and MMPU.

Smartphone apps for mental health and wellbeing: A usage survey and machine learning analysis of psychological and behavioral predictors

Objective

Despite the availability of thousands of mental health applications, the extent to which they are used and the factors associated with their use remain largely unknown. The present study aims to (a) assess in a representative US-based population sample the use of smartphone apps for mental health and wellbeing (SAMHW), (b) determine the variables predicting the use of SAMHW, and (c) explore how a set of variables related to mental health, smartphone use, and smartphone "addiction" may be associated with the use of SAMHW.

Methods

Data was collected via online questionnaire from 1989 adults. The data gathered included information on smartphone use behavior, mental health, and the use of SAMHW. Latent class analysis was used to categorize participants. Machine learning and logistic regression analyses were used to determine the most important predictors of SAMHW use and associations between predictors and outcome variables.

Results

While two-thirds of participants had a statistically high probability for using SAMHW, nearly twice more had high probability for using them to improve wellbeing compared to using them to address mental health problems (43% vs. 18%). In both groups, these participants were more likely to be female and in the younger adult age bracket than male and in the adult or older adult age bracket. According to the machine learning model, the most important predictors for using the relevant smartphone apps were variables associated with smartphone problematic use, COVID-19 impact, and mental health problems.

Conclusion

Findings from the present study confirm that the use of SAMHW is growing, particularly among younger adult and female individuals who are negatively impacted by problematic smartphone use, COVID-19, and mental health problems. These individuals tend to bypass traditional care via psychotherapy or psychopharmacology, relying instead on smartphones to address mental health conditions or improve wellbeing. Advising users of these apps to also seek professional help and promoting efforts to prove the efficacy and safety of SAMHW would seem necessary.

Driven by notifications – exploring the effects of badge notifications on user experience

Notification badges are an unexplored category of visual feedback to which we are continuously exposed. This study aims to deepen knowledge on the topic by measuring the behavioral effects of notification badges on a large sample of smartphone users. More precisely, the goal of the study is to observe if the presence of notification badges increases the frequency of clicks on apps. More than 1000 participants were involved in a remote between-subjects experiment, allocated into fifteen equinumerous groups of comparison. Each participant was presented with a smartphone screen displaying fifteen app icons and just one badge notification. Participants were asked to perform a remote user test called First Impression Click Test: a methodology that indicates where they would click first to accomplish a given task (i.e., Where would you click first on this screen?). Our results show a large increase in the number of clicks on apps with notification badges compared to those without notification badges and suggest the important ability of these small affordances to attract attention and stimulate action. Based on the evidence provided, our findings have practical implications for user experience design.

A Nudge-Based Intervention to Reduce Problematic Smartphone Use: Randomised Controlled Trial

Problematic smartphone use is rising across the world. We tested an intervention with ten strategies that nudge users to reduce their smartphone use, for example by disabling non-essential notifications and changing their display to greyscale. Participants first completed baseline measures of smartphone use, well-being, and cognition before choosing which intervention strategies to follow for 2 to 6 weeks. Study 1 ( N = 51 ) used a pre-post design while study 2 ( N = 70 ) compared the intervention to a control group who monitored their screen time. Study 1 found reductions in problematic smartphone use, screen time, and depressive symptoms after 2 weeks. Study 2 found that the intervention reduced problematic smartphone use, lowered screen time, and improved sleep quality compared to the control group. Our brief intervention returned problematic smartphone use scores to normal levels for at least 6 weeks. These results demonstrate that various strategies can be combined while maintaining feasibility and efficacy.

Difficulties in Establishing "Truth" Conditions in the Assessment of Addictive Smartphone Use in Young Adults

The smartphone revolution has placed powerful, multipurpose devices in the hands of youth across the globe, prompting worries about the potential negative consequences of these technologies on mental health. Many assessment tools have been created, seeking to classify individuals into problematic and non-problematic smartphone users. These are identified using a cutoff value: a threshold, within the scale range, at which higher scores are expected to be associated with negative outcomes. Lacking a clinical assessment of individuals, the establishment of this threshold is challenging. We illustrate this difficulty by calculating cutoff values for the Short Version of the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS-SV) in 13 Spanish-speaking samples in 11 countries, using common procedures (i.e., reliability, validity, ROC methodology). After showing that results can be very heterogeneous (i.e., they lead to diverse cutoff points and rates of addiction) depending on the decisions made by the researchers, we call for caution in the use of these classifications, particularly when researchers lack a clinical definition of true addiction-as is the case with most available scales in the field of behavioral addictions-which can cause an unnecessary public health alert.

Digital Intervention for Problematic Smartphone Use

Smartphones have become the primary devices for accessing the online world. The potential for smartphone use to become problematic has come into increasing focus. Students and young adults have been shown to use their smartphones at high rates and may be at risk for problematic use. There is limited research evaluating interventions for problematic smartphone use. The present research aimed to develop and evaluate a digital intervention for problematic smartphone use in a student population. A mixed-method case series design was used. The participants were 10 students with mild–moderate dependency on the online world (measured via a self-report questionnaire). An intervention comprising goal setting, personalised feedback, mindfulness, and behavioural suggestions was delivered via a smartphone application. Time spent on smartphones was measured objectively through the same application. Changes in problematic technology use, wellbeing, mindfulness, and sleep were also evaluated. The findings indicate that the intervention resulted in a reduction in self-reported problematic smartphone use, but not screen time. The findings also indicate that over the course of participation, there was a positive influence on wellbeing, online dependency, mindfulness, and sleep. However, the mechanisms of change could not be determined. The study provides preliminary evidence that a light-touch, smartphone-delivered package is an acceptable and effective intervention for students wishing to better manage their problematic smartphone use.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of discrepancies between logged and self-reported digital media use

There is widespread public and academic interest in understanding the uses and effects of digital media. Scholars primarily use self-report measures of the quantity or duration of media use as proxies for more objective measures, but the validity of these self-reports remains unclear. Advancements in data collection techniques have produced a collection of studies indexing both self-reported and log-based measures. To assess the alignment between these measures, we conducted a pre-registered meta-analysis of this research. Based on 106 effect sizes, we found that self-reported media use correlates only moderately with logged measurements, that self-reports were rarely an accurate reflection of logged media use and that measures of problematic media use show an even weaker association with usage logs. These findings raise concerns about the validity of findings relying solely on self-reported measures of media use.

Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) and social media's impact on daily-life and productivity at work: Do WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat Use Disorders mediate that association?

Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is the tendency to experience anxiety over missing out on rewarding experiences of others. It has been associated with daily-life disruptions, such as distractions during driving. FoMO has also consistently been a predictor of Internet, smartphone, and social networks use disorders. In the current work, we investigated the association between FoMO and social media use's impact on daily-life and productivity at work. In addition, we aimed to determine whether WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat Use Disorders mediate that relationship. The effective sample comprised 748 German-speaking study participants from the general population (age M = 38.63, SD = 12.10; 336 men, 412 women) who took part in an online survey study. Bivariate analyses showed that severity of all social networks use disorders were positively correlated with FoMO and social media's negative impact on daily-life and productivity at work. Furthermore, controlling for age and gender, mediation analyses showed that out of all platforms, only Snapchat Use Disorder did not mediate the association between FoMO and social media's negative impact on daily-life and productivity at work. These results provide further evidence about FoMO's central role in digital technology use-related disorders.

Emotion Regulation Difficulties, Personality, and Problematic Smartphone Use

Emotion regulation has been proposed as a mechanism for the development of problematic smartphone use. In addition to examining the relationship between emotion regulation difficulties and problematic smartphone use, the current study sought to be the first to examine the relationship between subscales of emotion regulation difficulties and problematic smartphone use. It also sought to determine whether emotion regulation difficulties provide incremental prediction of problematic smartphone use over and above personality. Participants were 692 Australian university students (81% female; age in years M = 25.23, SD = 7.48). They completed a measure of problematic smartphone use, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, and a measure of Big Five personality (IPIP 120). Overall emotion regulation difficulties (r = 0.40) and impulse control difficulties (r = 0.42) were moderately associated with problematic smartphone use, as were the Big Five factors of neuroticism (r = 0.43) and conscientiousness (r = -0.38). Although emotion regulation difficulties predicted problematic smartphone use, they did not provide incremental prediction over and above the Big Five. Findings indicate that personality is a robust predictor of problematic smartphone use. Emotion regulation difficulties, such as impulsivity, offer insights into the specific ways that personality is expressed in problematic smartphone use.

Comparing Smartphone, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat: Which Platform Elicits the Greatest Use Disorder Symptoms?

In recent years, smartphone and social networking services (SNS) use have received a great amount of scholarly attention regarding their potentially addictive effects. Conceptualized as smartphone or SNS use disorder, research has consistently demonstrated relations with daily-life impairments. However, Smartphone Use Disorder (SmUD), WhatsApp Use Disorder (WAUD), Facebook Use Disorder (FBUD), Instagram Use Disorder (IGUD), or Snapchat Use Disorder (SCUD) scores have not been compared with each other. This comparison could provide insight into which device/platform could be most related to daily-life impairments. The effective sample of this study comprised 439 German-speaking individuals (age M = 25.08, SD = 9.74; 271 women) who reported actively using a smartphone, as well as WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, and responded to the respective use disorder scales. Within-subjects analysis of variance and post hoc tests (p values adjusted with the Holm method) were used to compare smartphone and SNS use disorder scale scores. The results suggest that SmUD scores are highest in comparison with other SNS platforms. Although WAUD and IGUD scores did not differ from each other, these scores were higher than for FBUD and SCUD. SCUD scores were higher than FBUD scores. These results provide novel insight into how the smartphone and different SNSs may relate to engagement in problematic digital technology use.