The Chainsmokers’ latest song, Sick Boy, sums it up in a line, How many likes is my life worth? Constant interruption, desire to be entertained twenty-four seven, and continued connectedness are taking a toll on our mental, physical, and emotional health.
There is now a wide body of evidence that points to the fact that heavy use of smartphones, internet, and many social media platforms can have debilitating effects on our neural processing, cognitive performance, and behavior. On average smartphone users check their phone close to 85 times a day and interact with their phone about five hours a day.
Increasing evidence is pointing to the fact that our smartphones are not making us so smart after all and are leading us to more unhappiness.
Recently, Sean Parker, one of the developers of Facebook, admitted they designed the program to monopolize our time and attention, exploiting psychological principles that trigger a social validation loop and condition people to check for social rewards like “likes.”
A novel study by Adrain F. Ward and colleagues found that the mere presence of a smartphone induces a “brain drain”, reducing cognitive capacity by shifting attention toward the phone. When possible, keep phones out of sight to focus on the present moment.
Not only do smartphones hog our attention but they impair learning and memory: too much media multitasking causes cognitive overload which interferes with learning, and heavy multimedia users perform worse on attentional tasks.
Heavy smartphone users experience greater impulsivity, hyperactivity, and negative social concern, show difficulty with number processing, and report increased inattention. Other research links multi-platform social media use to increased anxiety and depression and related findings. When social validation fails, people can experience emotional pain and reduced well-being.
Is all social media bad? No — balance and how we interact matter. If we condition our behavior toward constant validation through social media we may suffer anxiety, depression, and negative mood. We have a choice how to use smartphones and social media.
Here are a few guidelines to use your smarts when using your smartphone and connecting:
- Reduce screen time each day by 10 minutes and engage in your surroundings. Mindfully detach from your smartphone.
- Shut down your smartphone when you are not using it and keep it out of sight.
- Keep your phone out of sight when you are in a meeting. Give the meeting your full attention.
- No phones at the dinner table.
- Try a phone-free Friday.
- If you cannot control shutting your phone and need some support, try a cell phone lock box.
- Kindness matters on social media. Practice the “Golden Rule” when posting. Treat others with compassion and respect — be a Charter for Compassion.
- Develop positive promotion of others and yourself. Learn the rules of Humblebrags and avoid them when possible.
- Social media is for sharing and being social — share your and others’ good ideas.
- Recognize if you get trapped in the social validation reward cycle and step back; practice delayed gratification.
- You are in control of your smartphone. It does not own you! YOU ARE THE SMART ONE!
References:
Andrews S, Ellis DA, Shaw H, Piwek L. Beyond Self-Report: Tools to Compare Estimated and Real-World Smartphone Use. PLoS One. 2015 Oct 28;10(10):e0139004. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0139004. eCollection 2015. PubMed PMID: 26509895; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4625000.
Edwards KS, Shin M. Media multitasking and implicit learning. Atten Percept Psychophys. 2017 Jul;79(5):1535-1549. doi: 10.3758/s13414-017-1319-4. PubMed PMID: 28462484.
Hadar A, Hadas I, Lazarovits A, Alyagon U, Eliraz D, Zangen A. Answering the missed call: Initial exploration of cognitive and electrophysiological changes associated with smartphone use and abuse. PLoS One. 2017 Jul 5;12(7):e0180094. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0180094. eCollection 2017. PubMed PMID: 28678870; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5497985.
Krasnova H, Widjaja T, Buxmann P, Wenninger H, and Benbasat I. Research Note—Why Following Friends Can Hurt You: An Exploratory Investigation of the Effects of Envy on Social Networking Sites among College-Age Users. Information Systems Research 2015 26:3, 585-605.
Primack B, Shensa A, Escobar-Viera C, Barrett E, Sidani J, Colditz J, James A. Use of multiple social media platforms and symptoms of depression and anxiety: A nationally-representative study among U.S. young adults. Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 69, 2017, Pages 1-9.
Ward A, Kristen Duke, Gneezy A, and Bos M. Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research 2017 2:2, 140-154.
