General screen-time smartphone usage is a poor predictor of stress, depression or anxiety say investigators, that advise caution in regards to digital detoxes.
The study published in Technology, Mind, and Behavior was Headed by Heather Shaw and Kristoffer Geyer in Lancaster University with Dr David Ellis and Dr Brittany Davidson in the University of Bath and Dr Fenja Ziegler and Alice Smith from the University of Lincoln.
They measured the screen-time spent on smartphones by 199 iPhone users and 46 Android consumers for one week. Participants were asked about their physical and mental wellness, completing clinical scales which measure anxiety and depression symptoms. They also completed a scale that measured how problematic they sensed their smartphone usage to be.
Surprisingly, the total amount of screen-time spent on the smartphone wasn’t related to poor mental health.
Lead author Heather Shaw of Lancaster University’s Department of Psychology said: “A person’s daily smartphone pickups or screen time did not predict anxiety, depression, or stress symptoms. Additionally, those who exceeded clinical ‘cut off points’ for both general anxiety and major depressive disorder did not use their phone more than those who scored below this threshold.”
Instead, the study found that mental health was correlated with concerns and worries felt by participants about their own screen-time smartphone usage.
This was measured through their scores on a problematic screen-time usage scale where they were asked to rate statements such as “Using my smartphone longer than I’d planned”, and “Having tried time and again to shorten my smartphone use time but failing all the time”.
Heather Shaw said: “It is important to consider actual device use separately from people’s concerns and worries about technology. This is because the former doesn’t show noteworthy relationships with mental health, whereby the latter does.”
Previous studies have focused on the possibly harmful impact of ‘screen-time’, but the analysis shows that people’s attitudes or worries will probably drive these findings.
Dr David Ellis, from the University of Bath’s School of Management, said: “Mobile technologies have become even more essential for work and day-to-day life during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results add to a growing body of research that suggests reducing general screen time will not make people happier. Instead of pushing the benefits of digital detox, our research suggests people would benefit from measures to address the worries and fears that have grown up around time spent using phones.”
Source: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/