The Science of Smartphones

Hello, I hope that you’re doing great.

As you know, I’m on social media a lot, which means I’m also on my phone a lot. I’ve noticed that it’s not great for my mental health or attention; after a while I feel distracted and have a hard time being still. Maybe you have had similar experiences.

What do the scientists who study this say about smartphones and mental health? This week on the podcast I interview Neuroscience and Psychology Professor Jay Van Bavel and Assistant Professor of Human-Computer Interaction Steven Rathje about what they’ve learned.

“There’s a consensus building around these devices and our mental health,” says Jay. “We gathered together 120 academics who study this set of issues representing a wide range of disciplines and viewpoints.” 92% or more of them agreed on a number of points:

1. Adolescent mental health has declined in the U.S. and other Western countries over the past 20 years.

2. Heavy smartphone and social media use corresponds to sleep problems.

3. Smartphone and social media use correlate with attention problems and behavioral addiction.

4. Among girls, social media use is associated with body dissatisfaction, exposure to mental disorders, and perfectionism.

As you can imagine, 92% is about as close to unanimity as you can get, approaching climate change levels.

“We ran a study in 3 countries, the U.S., the U.K. and Brazil,” Steven adds. “We paid people to use social media for a maximum of only 5 minutes a day for two weeks. We found an improvement to mood and ability to sleep. People were, in a word, happier.” The fact that they found such an immediate impact is remarkable. They now are running a similar study in 20 countries to see if the effects are universal.

I’d enjoy being part of that study.

Jay’s research indicates that political polarization, not surprisingly, is driven by social media. “The algorithms reward conflict and emotion. It turns out that a small proportion of social media accounts provide a good deal of the most hyperpartisan content. When people were made to unfollow those accounts in one of our studies their attitude toward the other side improved substantially. Most people in real life are between the two extremes.”

Unfortunately, the social media companies haven’t exactly been eager to either amplify or facilitate this research. “Meta and X used to make certain data publicly available through tools like CrowdTangle. They stopped doing that over the last five years, which has made our work more difficult.”

Is there hope on the policy front? It’s been a marvel watching 39 states get smartphones out of schools due to Jonathan Haidt’s world-changing book “The Anxious Generation.” But Jay and Steve’s research demonstrates that it’s not just minors who are having their brains affected; it’s adults, old people, young people, drivers, news consumers, everyone.

Think about the last time you’ve felt upset or attacked - chances are that it wasn’t that someone in-person assaulted you in real life, but that you witnessed or were part of an unpleasant online interaction. People are much more likely to be hostile over social media than in real life. Our phones have gone from being communication tools to sources of negative emotion and mistrust.

One thing that fascinated me was that many of the studies that Jay and Steve described consisted of paying people to modify their phone habits. It’s kind of what Noble is doing at scale – paying people potentially hundreds of dollars per year plus a 5.5% interest rate to log on less and look up more. I asked them what they are optimistic about and Steve said, “I think there’s growing consumer sentiment that these phones may not be a pure good, and that there’s a need for balance and moderation.”

For my interview with Jay Van Bavel and Steven Rathje about the science on smartphone use, click here. To get hooked up with Noble, email matt@noblemobile.com and use my name for up to three free months while getting paid to use your phone less. Offline’s no-phone party is coming to Philly this week and then Brooklyn, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles in November! Click here to see what Forward is doing in your state.