Apple introduced its iPhone in 2007 and the world has never been the same. Though the iPhone wasn't the first internet-enabled "smartphone," its touchscreen technology and built-in app library made it the first to gain mass-market appeal—and it sparked a revolution. Now, wireless mobile devices have found their way into millions of pockets, functioning not just as phones but as internet browsers, messaging services, calendars, cameras, alarm clocks, road maps and video players.
By 2015, 72 percent of U.S. adults reported owning a smartphone, according to a study by the Pew Research Center (Pewopens in new window, 2016). Smartphones undoubtedly make our lives easier, says Elizabeth Dunn, PhD, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia, who studies the ways that mobile technology can support or undermine well-being. "Having the entire store of human knowledge at our fingertips is pretty useful," she quips. But there may be trade-offs for that convenience. Mobile technology also has the power to negatively influence our health andhappiness, she says. "Our lab has gone looking for pros, but in general we keep finding cons."At their worst, research finds smartphones can mess with our sleep, stress us out and monopolize our attention. But psychology may hold the key to helping people take control of this technology to prevent such negative effects and even enhance our well-being. Tech developers aren't in the business of promoting well-being, Dunn says, but that does fall under the purview of psychology. "I think we need to devote a lot more attention to this," she says.
Sleep stealers
So far, research on the effects of smartphone use on our behavior and our functioning has not crystallized into broad conclusions, in part because it's all happened so fast, says Karla Klein Murdock, PhD, a psychology professor who heads the Technology and Health Lab at Washington and Lee University. "The technology is constantly changing. It's hard to quantify the important aspects of smartphone use when the qualitative aspects are changing all the time," she says.
Nevertheless, some patterns are emerging. Some of the most established evidence centers around sleep. "I think we have a critical mass of research [indicating] that cellphone use at nighttime is best avoided," says Murdock.
She followed 83 college students for a week and found that students who were more attuned to their nighttime phone notifications had poorer subjective sleep quality and greater self-reported sleep problems (Behavioral Sleep Medicineopens in new window, 2016).
While smartphones are often touted as productivity-boosting devices, their ability to interfere with sleep can have the opposite effect on getting things done. Russell E. Johnson, PhD, a professor of management at Michigan State University, and colleagues surveyed workers from a variety of professions. The researchers found that when people used smartphones at night for work-related purposes, they reported that they slept more poorly and were less engaged at work the next day. Those negative effects were greater for smartphone users than for people who used laptops or tablets right before bed (Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processesopens in new window, 2014).
One explanation for the smartphone's interference with sleep is the "blue light" that smartphones and other tech devices emit. Such light affects the production of the sleep-regulating hormone melatonin. But laptops and tablets also emit blue light, suggesting other factors are at play.
Smartphones are even more portable than laptops or tablets, and are all too easy to bring into bed, notes Murdock. In fact, many people use them as alarms and keep them within arm's reach all night. Reading a text or email at bedtime can stir your emotions or set your mind buzzing with things you need to get done. "Your mind becomes activated at a time when it's really important to settle and have some peace," she says.
Even after the lights go out, it can be hard to resist the lure of your phone. Sue K. Adams, PhD, and Tiffani Kissler, PhD, at the University of Rhode Island, asked college students to keep sleep diaries for a week. They found that 40 percent of the students reported waking at night to answer phone calls, and 47 percent woke to answer text messages. Students who were more likely to use technology after they'd gone to sleep reported poorer sleep quality, which in turn predicted symptoms of anxiety and depression (CyberPsychology, Behavior and Social Networkingopens in new window, 2013).
The FOMO phenomenon
Anxiety and smartphone use seem to often go hand in hand, says Larry Rosen, PhD, a professor emeritus of psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills, who has studied the psychology of technology for more than 35 years. In one study exploring this idea, he and his colleagues took phones away from college students for an hour and tested their anxiety levels at various intervals.
Light users of smartphones didn't show any increasing anxiety as they sat idly without their phones. Moderate users began showing signs of increased anxiety after about 25 minutes without their phones, but their anxiety held steady at that moderately increased level for the rest of the hourlong study. Heavy phone users showed increased anxiety after just 10 phone-free minutes, and unlike the moderate users, their anxiety levels continued to climb throughout the hour (Computers in Human Behavioropens in new window, 2014).
Rosen has found that younger generations are particularly likely to feel anxious if they can't check their text messages, social media and other mobile technology regularly. But people of all ages have a close relationship with their phones. He found 76 percent of baby boomers reported checking voicemail moderately often or very often, and 73 percent reported checking text messages moderately or very often (Computers in Human Behavioropens in new window, 2013).
People of all generations seem to have succumbed to the phenomenon known as "FOMO," or fear of missing out, on experiences and information that other people are involved in at any given moment. "We have created a system where we feel compelled to check in all the time," Rosen says.
Constant contact with the digital world isn't necessarily healthy or helpful, however. In the same study in which he reported how frequently people checked their phones, Rosen and his colleagues explored the relationships between technology-related attitudes and a variety of mood and personality disorders. They found numerous links. Some were positive—having more Facebook friends combined with frequent phone conversations predicted fewer signs of depression, for instance. But many others were negative. For example, anxiety about not checking in with text messages and Facebook predicted symptoms of major depression, dysthymia and bipolar mania.
Dunn has also studied the effect of being perpetually engaged with one's phone. On the bright side, her research suggests that tweaking the way you interact with technology can make a difference to your health.
In one study, she and her former doctoral student Kostadin Kushlev, PhD, followed 124 adults over two weeks. During one week, the participants were free to check their email continually throughout the day. During the other, they were limited to checking email messages (both work and personal) just three times per day. Participants reported less daily stress during the week when their email access was limited. That reduced stress was associated with positive outcomes including greater mindfulness, greater self-perceived productivity and better sleep quality (Computers in Human Behavioropens in new window, 2015).
In a similar two-week study, Dunn and Kushlev looked at smartphone notifications—the beeps and buzzes that alert users about incoming texts, emails and social media updates. During one week, the participants were asked to keep their phones within reach and turn on all notifications. During the other, participants were asked to turn notifications off and keep their phones tucked out of sight. At the end of each week, participants completed questionnaires to measure attention. During the week of notifications, participants reported greater levels of inattention and hyperactivity compared with their alert-free week (Proceedings of the 2016 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systemsopens in new window, 2016).
Those feelings of inattention and hyperactivity were directly associated with lower levels of productivity, social connectedness and psychological well-being, Dunn found. "There's a domino effect from having your attention scattered by frequent interruptions," she says.
Real-life connections
Unfortunately, turning notifications off can be easier said than done, especially in our FOMO culture. After all, it can be very rewarding to use your phone, Murdock points out. It's designed to feel good in your hand. It provides a sense of security that you can access the information you need, when you need it. When you use it, you're often getting valuable information or connecting with someone you care about. "It's reinforcing at almost every level," she says.
One concern among experts is that the smartphone's reinforcing qualities might train people to favor their phones over important people and events in their lives. "The technology is so phenomenal, it's not surprising it causes us to be distracted all the time—but we're missing out on the real world," Rosen says.
And real-world interactions are extremely important for our social species. "Real, face-to-face interactions are very much associated with emotional benefits," Dunn says. Conversations by phone or video can also be positive. But when you scroll through Facebook instead of chatting with your seatmate on a train, or check out Instagram instead of talking to your spouse at dinner, you can lose out on the benefits of genuine human interaction. "You might be missing easy opportunities for social connection and the emotional boost that comes with them," she says.
Then again, much of the time we spend on our mobile devices is devoted to social networking, which allows us to connect with others through platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. Yet digital networking isn't quite the same as connecting in real life.
Ethan Kross, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, studies social media and well-being. He's found that when people use social network sites passively—scrolling through their Facebook newsfeed, reading other people's posts, consuming information—they report lower levels of well-being. "When people use Facebook passively, they feel worse from one moment to the next," he says.
That's in contrast to active users, who produce and upload information, engage in conversation and comment on others' posts. Such active use does not appear to harm subjective well-being, he says, though the research so far is split on whether active use actually promotes well-being or is simply neutral, as Kross describes in a recent review (Social Issues and Policy Review, in press).
The difference, Kross says, is that merely consuming social media often provokes people to make social comparisons, which can lead to feelings of envy. Actively participating in social media, on the other hand, seems to stimulate feelings of social connectedness.
But the relationship between social media and emotional well-being is complex and doesn't always map neatly onto real-life behavior.
For instance, Kross says, it's been shown that people with depression receive less support from their real-life social networks, and they accurately perceive themselves as lacking in support. But he and Jiyoung Park, PhD, at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and colleagues have shown that in the digital world, people with depression actually receive more support from their Facebook friends than do people without depression. Yet they inaccurately believe they are receiving less support from their digital connections (Journal of Affective Disordersopens in new window, 2016).
That finding sets the stage for interventions that could help people tap into the support available to them on social media, Kross says. "I'm optimistic these networks could be harnessed to improve well-being."
Take back control
Indeed, smartphone use isn't inherently bad. Smartphones can help increase feelings of belonging and closeness with friends. For example, Kate Magsamen-Conrad, PhD, at Bowling Green State University, and colleagues found that among people who tend to be private and withhold personal information, technology can help them foster interpersonal relationships and increase their overall well-being (Computers in Human Behavioropens in new window, 2014).
But with technology, as with so many things, moderation is key. "It's about getting the best from the technology, but at the same time making sure it's not controlling you," Rosen says. "It's time to take back control."
That control can come from various quarters. People can take steps to minimize the pitfalls of smartphone use. (See "Seven ways to overhaul your smartphone use.") Psychologists, too, can play a role, both by studying technology and by providing support to clients who have trouble disconnecting. APA's Div. 46 (Society for Media Psychology and Technology) has established a new Device Management Committee that will focus on issues related to healthy use of smartphones and related technologies. "We hope people from across APA, from all divisions, will be involved," says Don Grant, PhD, a media psychologist in Santa Monica, California, who chairs the committee.
Dunn is also hopeful that technology developers will take a proactive approach, such as creating programs that make it easier to control what notifications users receive, and when. She imagines sensors that could detect when a person is out to dinner or playing with their children, for example, and withhold alerts about social media updates and other nontime-sensitive information. "We didn't evolve to be constantly battered by notifications. In smartphones we've totally changed the way we do everything in eight years," Dunn says.
Yet psychology can help improve technology, she says—tech companies have already begun sending representatives to psychology conferences to learn from that research. "The companies are listening," she says, "but we need to be talking."
