Did you know New Study Shows Reducing Mobile Internet Access can Improve Mental Health and Well Being of Users

 

According to a new study published in PNAS Nexus, taking a break from using mobile phones can result in improved mental health, focus and happiness. We have all heard about different negative effects of using smartphones but we still cannot stop using them because they provide us convenience as well as entertainment and social connections. As per another recent survey, 6 in 10 of the Americans said that they rely too much on their smartphones, out of which 80% were under 30 years age bracket. Most of the discussions about smartphone usage tell us that smartphones are affecting our cognitive abilities as well as emotional health which can have long term effects.

The researchers wanted to know if reducing mobile internet access could improve mental well being in the people. They designed a study with 467 participants which took place over a span of a month. The participants were from Canada and the US and were only iPhone users as the app that was used to block internet access was only available for Apple devices. The participants belonged to different educational and working backgrounds and had an average age of 32 years old, with 63% of them being women.

The participants were divided into two groups randomly, the Intervention group and the Delayed Intervention group. They were asked to use their smartphones as usual but for the first two weeks, the Intervention group got their mobile internet access blocked. On the other hand, the Delayed Intervention group continued their activities on their mobile phones as usual. In the next two weeks, the roles got reserved with the Delayed Intervention group getting their mobile internet access blocked and the Intervention group regaining access to their mobile internet. The app called Freedom was used for blocking internet access and the participants could still send or receive texts and calls. They were also allowed to use other devices kike laptops and computers and this allowed the researchers to look at only the effects of blocking mobile internet access of users.

Participants gave the results of the survey objectively as well as subjectively. They completed surveys at the beginning of the study, after the first two weeks and after four weeks so researchers could determine their cognitive conditions. The researchers also assessed their subjective well being through negative emotions, positive emotions and life satisfaction and their attention was also measured.

The results showed that blocking mobile internet access of the users improved the psychological health of the participants as well as their attention span and general well being. They also found that these effects decreased after the internet block was lifted, but the well-being was still better than before and improvements in attention were still there. Participants with higher levels of ADHD and FOMO saw more improvements than others in their mental health and overall well-being. But there are some limitations of the study too like only 25% of the participants complied with the internet block and the study only had iPhone users.