European Addiction Research

Wasmuth J.M.a,b· Reinhard I.c· Hill H.d· Alpers G.W.b· Shevchenko Y.a,e· Kiefer F.a· Leménager T.a

Author affiliations

aDepartment of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
bDepartment of Psychology, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
cDepartment of Biostatistics, Central Institute of Mental Health, Medical Faculty Mannheim/Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany
dInstitute of Sports and Sports Sciences, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany
eDepartment of Research Methods, Assessment, and iScience, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany

Log in to MyKarger to check if you already have access to this content.

Buy FullText & PDF Unlimited re-access via MyKarger Unrestricted printing, no saving restrictions for personal use read more

CHF 38.00 *
EUR 35.00 *
USD 39.00 *

Select

KAB

Buy a Karger Article Bundle (KAB) and profit from a discount!

If you would like to redeem your KAB credit, please log in.

Save over 20% compared to the individual article price.

Learn more

Rent/Cloud Rent for 48h to view Buy Cloud Access for unlimited viewing via different devices Synchronizing in the ReadCube Cloud Printing and saving restrictions apply Rental: USD 8.50
Cloud: USD 20.00

Select

Subscribe Access to all articles of the subscribed year(s) guaranteed for 5 years Unlimited re-access via Subscriber Login or MyKarger Unrestricted printing, no saving restrictions for personal use read more

Subcription rates

Select

* The final prices may differ from the prices shown due to specifics of VAT rules.

Article / Publication Details

First-Page Preview

Received: March 25, 2021
Accepted: December 22, 2021
Published online: February 04, 2022

Number of Print Pages: 12
Number of Figures: 2
Number of Tables: 4

ISSN: 1022-6877 (Print)
eISSN: 1421-9891 (Online)

For additional information: https://www.karger.com/EAR

Abstract

Introduction: Smartphones are often helpful in our everyday lives. Yet, they also tend to interrupt us during other activities. It has been argued that such distractions contribute to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder-like symptoms. However, since there are mostly correlational studies, the causal nature of this relationship is unclear. Our aim was to test whether reducing smartphone-related distractions might have a beneficial effect on inattention and hyperactive symptoms. Methods: We conducted a 1-week field experiment with 37 healthy undergraduates and quasi-randomly assigned them to an intervention or control group (CG). The intervention group was given theory-based specific instructions that aimed at reducing smartphone-related distractions, whereas the CG received no intervention. The outcomes of interest were inattention level, hyperactive symptoms, and working memory accuracy. Results: Compared to those in the control condition, participants who limited their smartphone use showed considerable reductions in hyperactive symptoms after 1 week – particularly those who displayed high problematic smartphone use. However, there were no group differences regarding inattention symptoms and working memory accuracy. Discussion: The results give a first hint that strategically reducing smartphone-related distractions via specific but simple use modifications can mitigate hyperactive symptoms. Especially people with problematic smartphone use seem to profit from such an intervention. Remaining questions and directions are discussed.

© 2022 S. Karger AG, Basel

References Wiederhold BK. Social media use during social distancing. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2020;23(5):275–6. Montag C, Błaszkiewicz K, Sariyska R, Lachmann B, Andone I, Trendafilov B, et al. Smartphone usage in the 21st century: who is active on WhatsApp? BMC Res Notes. 2015;8:331. Pielot M, Church K, de Oliveira R. An in-situ study of mobile phone notifications. In: Quigley A, Diamond S, Irani P, Subramanian S, editors. An in-situ study of mobile phone notifications. New York, NY, USA: ACM Press; 2014. p. 233–42. Adamczyk PD, Bailey BP. If not now, when? The effects of interruption at different moments within task execution. In: Adamczyk PD, Bailey BP, editors. If not now, when? The effects of interruption at different moments within task execution. New York, NY: ACM Press; 2004. p. 271–8. Chang YJ, Tang JC. Investigating mobile users’ ringer mode usage and attentiveness and responsiveness to communication. In: Boring S, Rukzio E, Gellersen H, Hinckley K, editors. Investigating mobile users’ ringer mode usage and attentiveness and responsiveness to communication. New York, NY: ACM Press; 2015. p. 6–15. Battestini A, Setlur V, Sohn T. A large scale study of text-messaging use. In: de Sá M, Carriço L, Correia N, editors. A large scale study of text-messaging use. New York, NY, USA: ACM Press; 2010. p. 229–38. Lee U, Song J, Lee J, Ko M, Lee C, Kim Y, et al. Hooked on smartphones: an exploratory study on smartphone overuse among college students. In: Jones M, Palanque P, Schmidt A, Grossman T, editors. Hooked on smartphones: an exploratory study on smartphone overuse among college students. New York, NY: ACM Press; 2014. p. 2327–36. Oulasvirta A, Rattenbury T, Ma L, Raita E. Habits make smartphone use more pervasive. Pers Ubiquit Comput. 2012;16(1):105–14. Markowetz A. Digitaler burnout: warum unsere permanente smartphone-nutzung gefährlich ist. München, Germany: Droemer Knaur Verlag; 2015. Leiva L, Böhmer M, Gehring S, Krüger A. Back to the app: the costs of mobile application interruptions. In: Churchill E, editor. Back to the app: the costs of mobile application interruptions. New York, NY: ACM Press; 2012. p. 291–4. Wilmer HH, Sherman LE, Chein JM. Smartphones and cognition: a review of research exploring the links between mobile technology habits and cognitive functioning. Front Psychol. 2017;8:605. Lang A. The limited capacity model of mediated message processing. J Commun. 2000;50(1):46–70. David P, Kim JH, Brickman JS, Ran W, Curtis CM. Mobile phone distraction while studying. New Media Soc. 2015;17(10):1661–79. Agrawal P, Sahana HS, De’ R. Digital distraction. In: Baguma R, De’ R, Janowski T, editors. Digital distraction. New York, NY, USA: ACM Press; 2017. p. 191–4. Brooks S, Longstreet P, Longstreet P, Califf C. Social media induced technostress and its impact on internet addiction: a distraction-conflict theory perspective. THCI. 2017;9(2):99–122. Czerwinski M, Cutrell E, Horvitz E. Instant messaging: effects of relevance and timing. In: Czerwinski M, Cutrell E, Horvitz E, editors. Instant messaging: effects of relevance and timing. New York, NY: ACM Press; 2000. p. 71–6. Altmann EM, Trafton JG, Hambrick DZ. Momentary interruptions can derail the train of thought. J Exp Psychol Gen. 2014;143(1):215–26. Ophir E, Nass C, Wagner AD. Cognitive control in media multitaskers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009;106(37):15583–7. Kushlev K, Proulx J, Dunn EW. “Silence your phones”: smartphone notifications increase inattention and hyperactivity symptoms. In: Kaye J, Druin A, Lampe C, Morris D, Hourcade JP, editors. “Silence your phones”: smartphone notifications increase inattention and hyperactivity symptoms. New York, NY: ACM Press; 2016. p. 1011–20. Uncapher MR, K Thieu M, Wagner AD. Media multitasking and memory: differences in working memory and long-term memory. Psychon Bull Rev. 2016;23(2):483–90. Cain MS, Mitroff SR. Distractor filtering in media multitaskers. Perception. 2011;40(10):1183–92. Loh KK, Kanai R. Higher media multi-tasking activity is associated with smaller gray-matter density in the anterior cingulate cortex. PLoS One. 2014;9(9):e106698. Moisala M, Salmela V, Hietajärvi L, Salo E, Carlson S, Salonen O, et al. Media multitasking is associated with distractibility and increased prefrontal activity in adolescents and young adults. Neuroimage. 2016;134:113–21. van der Schuur WA, Baumgartner SE, Sumter SR, Valkenburg PM. The consequences of media multitasking for youth: a review. Comput Hum Behav. 2015;53:204–15. Brooks S. Does personal social media usage affect efficiency and well-being? Comput Hum Behav. 2015;46:26–37. Misra S, Stokols D. Psychological and health outcomes of perceived information overload. Environ Behav. 2012;44(6):737–59. Lee H, Ahn H, Nguyen TG, Choi SW, Kim DJ. Comparing the self-report and measured smartphone usage of college students: a pilot study. Psychiatry Investig. 2017;14(2):198–204. Elhai JD, Dvorak RD, Levine JC, Hall BJ. Problematic smartphone use: a conceptual overview and systematic review of relations with anxiety and depression psychopathology. J Affect Disord. 2017;207:251–9. Marty-Dugas J, Ralph BCW, Oakman JM, Smilek D. The relation between smartphone use and everyday inattention. Psychol Conscious. 2018;5(1):46–62. Fitz N, Kushlev K, Jagannathan R, Lewis T, Paliwal D, Ariely D. Batching smartphone notifications can improve well-being. Comput Hum Behav. 2019;101:84–94. Mark G, Voida S, Cardello A. “A pace not dictated by electrons”: an empirical study of work without email. In: Konstan JA, Chi EH, Höök K, editors. “A pace not dictated by electrons": an empirical study of work without email. New York, NY: ACM Press; 2012. p. 555–64. Pielot M, Rello L. Productive, anxious, lonely: 24 hours without push notifications. In: Jones M, Tscheligi M, Rogers Y, Murray-Smith R, editors. Productive, anxious, lonely: 24 hours without push notifications. New York, NY, USA: ACM Press; 2017. p. 1–11. Vanman EJ, Baker R, Tobin SJ. The burden of online friends: the effects of giving up Facebook on stress and well-being. J Soc Psychol. 2018;158(4):496–507. Cheever NA, Rosen LD, Carrier LM, Chavez A. Out of sight is not out of mind: the impact of restricting wireless mobile device use on anxiety levels among low, moderate and high users. Comput Hum Behav. 2014;37:290–7. Clayton RB, Leshner G, Almond A. The extended iSelf: the impact of iPhone separation on cognition, emotion, and physiology. J Comput Mediat Comm. 2015;20(2):119–35. Iqbal ST, Horvitz E. Notifications and awareness: a field study of alert usage and preferences. In: Inkpen K, editor. Notifications and awareness: a field study of alert usage and preferences. New York, NY: ACM Press; 2010. p. 27–30. Vahedi Z, Saiphoo A. The association between smartphone use, stress, and anxiety: a meta-analytic review. Stress Health. 2018;34(3):347–58. Robinson TE, Berridge KC. The neural basis of drug craving: an incentive-sensitization theory of addiction. Brain Res Brain Res Rev. 1993;18(3):247–91. Ellgring H, Alpers GW. Operante verfahren der psychotherapie: psychologische interventionen auf grundlage des operanten konditionierens. In: Hautzinger M, Pauli P, editors. Enzyklopädie der psychologie: themenbereich B, methodologie und methoden: ser. 3, psychologische interventionsmethoden. 2nd edn. Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe Verlag; 2009. p. 271–316. Margraf J, Wilhelm E. Habit-reversal-training. In: Margraf J, Schneider S, editors. Lehrbuch der verhaltenstherapie, band 1. 3rd edn. Heidelberg, Germany: Springer; 2018. p. 579–96. Freihaut P. Privates und berufliches digitales nutzungsverhalten und subjektives wohlbefinden: überprüfung von direkten effekten, moderator- und mediatoreffekten in strukturgleichungsmodellen. Master thesis, Fachbereich 05 – Psychologie und Sportwissenschaften: Institut für Psychologie, Goethe Universität Frankfurt; 2017. Adler LA, Kessler RC, Spencer T. Adult ADHD self-report scale-v1. 1 (ASRS-v1. 1) symptom checklist. New York, NY: World Health Organization; 2003. Kessler RC, Adler L, Ames M, Demler O, Faraone S, Hiripi E, et al. The World Health Organization adult ADHD self-report scale (ASRS): a short screening scale for use in the general population. Psychol Med. 2005;35(2):245–56. Foerster M, Roser K, Schoeni A, Röösli M. Problematic mobile phone use in adolescents: derivation of a short scale MPPUS-10. Int J Public Health. 2015;60(2):277–86. Kirchner WK. Age differences in short-term retention of rapidly changing information. J Exp Psychol. 1958;55(4):352–8. Mühlbauer E, Bauer M, Ebner-Priemer U, Ritter P, Hill H, Beier F, et al. Effectiveness of smartphone-based ambulatory assessment (SBAA-BD) including a predicting system for upcoming episodes in the long-term treatment of patients with bipolar disorders: study protocol for a randomized controlled single-blind trial. BMC Psychiatry. 2018;18(1):349. Harari GM, Lane ND, Wang R, Crosier BS, Campbell AT, Gosling SD. Using smartphones to collect behavioral data in psychological science: opportunities, practical considerations, and challenges. Perspect Psychol Sci. 2016;11(6):838–54. Oberauer K. Working memory and attention: a conceptual analysis and review. J Cogn. 2019;2(1):36. Prochaska JO, Velicer WF. The transtheoretical model of health behavior change. Am J Health Promot. 1997;12(1):38–48. Busch PA, McCarthy S. Antecedents and consequences of problematic smartphone use: a systematic literature review of an emerging research area. Comput Hum Behav. 2021;114:106414. Panova T, Carbonell X, Chamarro A, Puerta-Cortés DX. Specific smartphone uses and how they relate to anxiety and depression in university students: a cross-cultural perspective. Behav Inf Technol. 2019;39(9):1–13. Article / Publication Details

First-Page Preview

Received: March 25, 2021
Accepted: December 22, 2021
Published online: February 04, 2022

Number of Print Pages: 12
Number of Figures: 2
Number of Tables: 4

ISSN: 1022-6877 (Print)
eISSN: 1421-9891 (Online)

For additional information: https://www.karger.com/EAR

Copyright / Drug Dosage / Disclaimer Copyright: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated into other languages, reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, microcopying, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Drug Dosage: The authors and the publisher have exerted every effort to ensure that drug selection and dosage set forth in this text are in accord with current recommendations and practice at the time of publication. However, in view of ongoing research, changes in government regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to drug therapy and drug reactions, the reader is urged to check the package insert for each drug for any changes in indications and dosage and for added warnings and precautions. This is particularly important when the recommended agent is a new and/or infrequently employed drug.
Disclaimer: The statements, opinions and data contained in this publication are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of the publishers and the editor(s). The appearance of advertisements or/and product references in the publication is not a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised or of their effectiveness, quality or safety. The publisher and the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content or advertisements.