Examining the accuracy of estimated smartphone use: How well-being and usage level predict discrepancies between estimated and actual use

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Sewall ◽  
Daniel Rosen ◽  
Todd M. Bear
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Mobile Device ◽  
Screen Time ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Actual Use ◽  
Smartphone Use ◽  
Usage Level

The increasing ubiquity of mobile device and social media (SM) use has generated a substantial amount of research examining how these phenomena may impact public health. Prior studies have found that mobile device and SM use are associated with various aspects of well-being. However, a large portion of these studies relied upon self-reported estimates to measure amount of use, which can be inaccurate. Utilizing Apple’s “Screen Time” application to obtain actual iPhone and SM use data, the current study examined the accuracy of self-reported estimates, how inaccuracies bias relationships between use and well-being (depression, loneliness, and life satisfaction), and the degree to which inaccuracies were predicted by levels of well-being. Among a sample of 393 iPhone users, we found that: a.) participants misestimated their weekly overall iPhone and SM use by 22.1 and 16.6 hours, respectively; b.) the correlations between estimated use and well-being variables were consistently stronger than the correlations between actual use and well-being variables; and c.) the amount of inaccuracy in estimated use is associated with levels of participant well-being as well as amount of use. These findings suggest that estimates of device/SM use may be biased by factors that are fundamental to the relationships being investigated. **This manuscript is currently under review**

How psychosocial well-being and usage amount predict inaccuracies in retrospective estimates of digital technology use

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 379-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig J. R. Sewall ◽  
Todd M. Bear ◽  
John Merranko ◽  
Daniel Rosen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Screen Time ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Actual Use

Using Apple’s Screen Time application to obtain reported actual iPhone and social media (SM) use, we examined the accuracy of retrospective estimates of usage, how inaccuracies bias associations between use and psychosocial well-being (depression, loneliness, and life satisfaction), and the degree to which inaccuracies were predicted by levels of well-being. Among a sample of 325 iPhone users, we found that (a) participants misestimated their weekly overall iPhone and SM use by 19.1 and 12.2 hours, respectively; (b) correlations between estimated use and well-being variables were consistently stronger than the correlations between reported actual use and well-being variables; and (c) the degree of inaccuracy in estimated use was associated with levels of participant well-being and amount of use. These findings suggest that retrospective estimates of digital technology use may be systematically biased by factors that are fundamental to the associations under investigation. We propose that retrospective estimates of digital technology use may be capturing the construct of perceived use rather than actual use, and discuss how the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of perceived use may be distinct from those of actual use. Implications of these findings are discussed in view of the ongoing debate surrounding the effects of digital technology use on well-being.

scholarly journals The Association Between Well-Being and Objectively Measured Versus Self-Reported Smartphone Time

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa C. Walsh ◽  
Karynna Okabe-Miyamoto ◽  
Annie Regan ◽  
Jean Twenge ◽  
Sonja Lyubomirsky
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Screen Time ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Time Function ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Correlational Research ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Smartphone Use ◽  
Objectively Measured

Recent correlational research links smartphone and social media use to lower well-being among Gen Z youth, yet other work suggests that the effects are small and unnoteworthy. However, these findings rely heavily on self-report. How accurate is self-reported smartphone time and are objectively measured screen activities associated with lower well-being than nonscreen activities? Finally, are some smartphone uses “better” for well-being than others? We addressed these questions by examining correlations among psychosocial well-being and smartphone time in 414 Gen Z participants. Although objective smartphone use (i.e., assessed via Apple’s Screen Time function) and self-reports were correlated at r=.55, most participants were unable to accurately estimate their smartphone time. Furthermore, the more they used their smartphones—whether assessed objectively or via self-report—the less happy they were (rs=–.14 to .17). However, some apps were associated with more well-being (e.g., Camera, News, Snapchat) and others with less (e.g., Facebook, Reddit, Tinder, Twitter).

scholarly journals Stress, Mood, and Smartphone Use in University Students: A 12-week Longitudinal Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abigail Bradley ◽  
Andrea Howard
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
University Students ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Screen Time ◽  
Multilevel Models ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Mood States ◽  
Stress Levels ◽  
Smartphone Use ◽  
Screen Use

The current study used device-logged screen time records to measure week-to-week within-person associations between stress and smartphone use in undergraduate students (N = 187, Mage = 20.1) during Fall 2020, focusing on differences across types of app used and whether accumulated screen use each week predicted end-of-week mood states. Participants uploaded weekly screenshots from their “Screen Time” settings display and completed surveys measuring stress, mood, and COVID-19 experiences. Results of multilevel models showed no week-to-week change in smartphone hours of use or device pickups. Higher stress levels were not concurrently associated with heavier smartphone use, either overall or by type of app. Heavier smartphone use in a given week did not predict end-of-week mood states, but students who tended to spend more time on their phones in general reported slightly worse moods—a between-person effect potentially reflecting deficits in well-being that are present in students’ offline lives as well. Our findings contribute to a growing scholarly consensus that time spent on smartphones tells us little about young people’s well-being.

Psychological Well-Being and Physical Health: Associations, Mechanisms, and Future Directions

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalba Hernandez ◽  
Sarah M. Bassett ◽  
Seth W. Boughton ◽  
Stephanie A. Schuette ◽  
Eva W. Shiu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Physical Health ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Disease Incidence ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Life Meaning ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Psychological Well Being

A paradigm shift in public health and medicine has broadened the field from a singular focus on the ill effects of negative states and psychopathology to an expanded view that examines protective psychological assets that may promote improved physical health and longevity. We summarize recent evidence of the link between psychological well-being (including positive affect, optimism, life meaning and purpose, and life satisfaction) and physical health, with particular attention to outcomes of mortality and chronic disease incidence and progression. Within this evolving discipline there remain controversies and lessons to be learned. We discuss measurement-related challenges, concerns about the quality of the evidence, and other shortcomings in the field, along with a brief discussion of hypothesized biobehavioral mechanisms involved. Finally, we suggest next steps to move the field forward.

Online Opinion Leaders in the Health Promotion Digital Era

2021 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-309
Author(s):  
Joyce Cheah Lynn-Sze ◽  
◽  
Azlina Kamaruddin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Health Communication ◽  
Opinion Leader ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Opinion Leaders ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
The Public

Health opinion leaders have widely embraced social media for health promotion and public health communication which can make a strong influence on the public decision making. However, despite the growing relevance of public health threats such as infectious diseases, pandemic influenza and natural disasters, research has paid little attention to the qualities of opinion leaders. Moreover, there is limited evidence that public health organisations use social media appropriately to engage in meaningful conversations with audiences. Thus, the aims of the study are to describe principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders to promote health issues, to discuss the strategies of social media used, to explain the opinion leaders’ influence attributes in health decision making and finally to develop a model of online opinion leader in the contemporary health promotion era. Content analysis was conducted on Facebook postings of five selected health opinion leaders. In addition, semi-structured interviews with 10 followers were conducted. The findings of the study revealed that there are three principles of communication practised by online opinion leaders, which are language, interaction and themes. There are three strategies opinion leaders use to influence the public: social connectivity, social support and social consultation. Furthermore, there are five opinion leaders’ attributes that influence the public’s decision making, namely personality, authenticity, trust/credibility, professional knowledge and social position. The model would be beneficial in educating and guiding the current public health opinion leaders in order to establish health and social well-being. Keywords: Online opinion leader, online health communication, public health, two-step flow theory, decision making.

scholarly journals Temporal digital control: Theorizing the use of digital technologies to provide a temporal autonomous space

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 794-812
Author(s):  
Nicola F Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Digital Control ◽  
Screen Time ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Temporal Control ◽  
Digital Device ◽  
Digital Devices ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
Smartphone Use

Screen time once referred to television. Nowadays, it includes various screen sizes that are internet-enabled devices, and the pervasive smartphone. Regardless of what kind of screen is used, screen time comprises much of life itself. Being online and offline is now fairly blurred because of the ubiquitousness of technologies, Wi-Fi and screens. This paper puts forth the notion of ‘temporal digital control’ to explain the choice of when and why smartphones and other portable digital devices are used in today’s cultural milieu, and it theorizes the ‘why’ of contemporary smartphone use is so prominent suggesting it enables temporal digital control in an autonomous space. Coupled with the engrossment of such use, the article elaborates how gazing at a digital device comprises a temporal connection, alongside a disconnection from real life, and a possible inauthenticity that could affect well-being. Recently published literature on ‘waiting’ is included to help theorize why actors choose to use digital technologies while waiting. Being preoccupied, or busy, or doing something with one’s smartphone while waiting creates a sense of alleged status, importance or connection in the form of digital temporal control. An array of vignettes is provided to demonstrate agentic disengagement with the present in a preference for moving into a temporal autonomous space of ‘perceived’ digital control. When gazing at and using a digital device, users are arguably disengaging with the temporal present, disconnecting with others who may be beside them, in preference to the creation of temporal (and digital) autonomous spaces. Regardless of what the user is doing on their smartphone or device, the use of technologies can provide a temporal autonomous space of digital control.

scholarly journals A ten-step behavioural intervention to reduce screen time and problematic smartphone use

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay A. Olson ◽  
Dasha Sandra ◽  
Denis Chmoulevitch ◽  
Amir Raz ◽  
Samuel P. L. Veissière
Keyword(s):  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Technology Use ◽  
Screen Time ◽  
Intervention Study ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Behavioural Intervention ◽  
Problematic Smartphone Use ◽  
The World ◽  
Smartphone Use

Problematic smartphone use is rising across the world and has been associated with reductions in concentration and well-being. Few interventions aiming to reduce smartphone use take a multi-faceted approach that balances feasibility and effectiveness. We developed such an intervention with ten simple guidelines that nudge users to reduce their screen time (e.g., disabling non-essential notifications). Two pre-registered studies tested the intervention. Study 1 (N = 51) found reductions in screen time, problematic smartphone use, and depressive symptoms after two weeks. Study 2 (N = 70) found that the intervention caused larger changes in screen time, problematic smartphone use, and sleep quality than a control group of screen time monitoring alone. Our brief intervention reduced screen time by one hour per day and returned problematic smartphone use scores to normal levels for at least six weeks. This intervention provides simple, scalable, and feasible behavioural guidelines to promote healthy technology use.

scholarly journals Adolescent Social Media User Types and their Mental Health and Well-being: results from a longitudinal survey of 13–14-year-olds in the United Kingdom

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lizzy Winstone ◽  
Becky Mars ◽  
CMA Haworth ◽  
Jon Heron ◽  
Judi Kidger
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Screen Time ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Latent Class ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Poor Mental Health ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
Health And Well Being

Background There is mixed evidence as to the effects of different types of social media use on mental health, but previous research has been platform-specific and has focused on an oversimplified distinction between active and passive use. This study aimed to identify different underlying subgroups of adolescent social media user based on their pattern of social media activities and test associations between user type and future mental health. Methods Students from nineteen schools (N=2,456) in south-west England completed an online survey measuring thirteen social media activities and four psychosocial outcomes (past year self-harm, depression, anxiety and poor well-being) at age 13 years (October 2019) and repeated a year later (October 2020; aged 14 years). Latent class analysis using Mplus identified distinct classes of social media user. A bias-adjusted three-step model was used to test associations between class membership at baseline and mental health at follow-up. Analyses were adjusted for gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, disability, social media screen-time and baseline mental health.Results A four-class model of social media user at baseline was selected based on fit statistics and interpretability. User types were labelled High Communicators; Moderate Communicators; Broadcasters; and Minimal users. Broadcasters at age 13 had the poorest mental health outcomes at age 14, with mental health and well-being generally better in the two Communicator groups. Conclusions Findings suggest that adolescents with high levels of content sharing – in addition to socialising and browsing online – are most likely to be experiencing poor mental health a year later. Recommendations regarding social media use should move beyond screen-time to consider different user types, and mental health implications of their engagement with different online activities.

scholarly journals Social Media, Depressive Symptoms and Well-Being in Early Adolescence. The Moderating Role of Emotional Self-Efficacy and Gender

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuela Calandri ◽  
Federica Graziano ◽  
Luca Rollé
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Depressive Symptoms ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Media Use ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Moderating Role

The study of the psychological effects of social media use on adolescents’ adjustment has long been the focus of psychological research, but results are still inconclusive. In particular, there is a lack of research on the positive and negative developmental outcomes and on possible moderating variables, especially concerning early adolescence. To fill these gaps in literature, the present study longitudinally investigated the relationships between social media use, depressive symptoms, affective well-being and life satisfaction, as well as the moderating role of emotional self-efficacy and gender. The study involved 336 Italian early adolescents (mean age = 13, sd = 0.3; 48% girls) who completed an anonymous self-report questionnaire twice within a year. Main results showed that higher social media use was related to higher depressive symptoms, lower affective well-being and lower life satisfaction among girls with lower emotional self-efficacy. Conversely, high social media use was related to higher affective well-being and higher life satisfaction for girls with higher emotional self-efficacy. Results are discussed in relation to their implications for risk prevention and health promotion among early adolescents. In particular, our results suggest that promoting emotional self-efficacy can be very helpful in making the use of social media an opportunity for well-being and life satisfaction rather than a developmental risk.

scholarly journals Social Media Surveillance in Schools: Rethinking Public Health Interventions in the Digital Age (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Burke ◽  
Cinnamon Bloss
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Media ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Digital Surveillance ◽  
Safety And Health ◽  
Student Safety

UNSTRUCTURED Growing public concern about student safety and well-being has led schools and school districts to contract private companies to implement new technologies that target and surveil students’ activity on social media websites. Although innovative solutions for addressing student safety and health are needed, it is unclear whether the implementation of social media surveillance in schools is an effective strategy. Currently, there is no evidence to support the claims made by social media surveillance companies, as well as the schools that hire them, that these technologies can address the myriad of public health issues facing today’s students. Instead, these digital surveillance systems may only serve to exacerbate the problems that youth—especially those from historically marginalized groups—already face.

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