We All Use Our Phones Differently — So General Measures Of “Screen Time” Are Not Very Useful

By Emily Reynolds The impact of technology on young people is an oft-debated topic in the media. Is increased screen time having a serious impact on their mental health? Or have we over-exaggerated the level of risk young people face due to their use of tech? According to a new study, published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, we could be asking the wrong questions. A team led by Nastasia Griffioen at Radboud University Nijmegen suggests that rather than looking at screen time in a binary way, researchers should explore the nuances of smartphone use: how young people are using their phones, rather than the fact they’re using them at all. The original aim of the study was to look at how stress regulation affected social media use. First, 114 participants aged 18 to 25 filled in measures of depression, anxiety, emotional regulation, self-compassion and rejection sensitivity. They were then split into two conditions: a stress condition, in which they had to give a recorded presentation for five minutes, and a control condition, in which they simply viewed and rated two presentations. Participants were then asked to wait in the experiment room for ten minutes and told not to move from their seat; meanwhile, and unknown to the participants, a camera recorded their activity, looking closely at phone use. Upon the researcher’s return, participants were shown the video and were asked to share their motivations, thoughts and feelings each time the...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Facebook Mental health Technology Twitter Source Type: blogs