Forget the radical new diet or arduous fitness regimen — the key to being happier and healthier may be in the palm of your hand.
People spend an average of three to five hours on their smartphones every day, with younger adults reporting usage closer to six to seven hours. Research has shown that all that doom scrolling and Instagram envy is making us miserable.
The good news is that you don’t have to quit these sites forever to feel better. In a new study, researchers asked 467 participants to install an app that blocked all of their mobile internet access for two weeks and found that those who did reported a significant boost to mental health, focus and well-being.
The participants, whose average age was 32, could still access the internet on their computers at work, home or school — and they were able to hop back online on their phone once the experiment was over — but it seems this one small change produced massive results.
Almost three-quarters of participants (71%) reported better mental health, with the average improvement in depression symptoms even greater than what’s been seen in research on antidepressants.
And with attention span, researchers noted the move seemed to reverse 10 years of cognitive decline related to aging.
“Smartphones have drastically changed our lives and behaviors over the past 15 years, but our basic human psychology remains the same,” said Adrian Ward, a marketing professor at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and lead study author.
“Our big question was, are we adapted to deal with constant connection to everything all the time? The data suggest that we are not.”
Though the directions of the experiment were simple, some people had trouble following through.
Of the 467 who committed to blocking mobile internet for two weeks, only 266 set up the Freedom app and just 119 kept the block active for at least 10 of the 14 days.
Freedom allows users to block distracting websites, apps and even the entire internet for as long as they want.
It’s on the App Store, Google Play or the Freedom downloads page, with a monthly subscription available for $8.99.
There’s a free DIY option as well — smartphone users can turn on parental controls, turn off mobile data or shut off WiFi access altogether.
Ward’s study findings come as a significant number of Americans believe they are addicted to their smartphones. In a 2022 Gallup poll, 58% of Americans admitted they are on their phones too much. The figure was closer to 80% for those under 30.
And yet, a 2018 survey revealed that, when asked how long they could go without their smartphones, only 17% of respondents said they could last a full day, with 31% believing they could only make it a few hours and 8% admitting they’d crack after an hour or less.
Meanwhile, scientific studies support decreasing phone usage. Research from the University of Pennsylvania found that limiting social media use to just 30 minutes a day led to significant drops in anxiety, depression and loneliness.
Another study, in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, linked heavy social media use to a doubled risk of perceived social isolation.
Ward believes that the results of his study, published Tuesday in the journal PNAS Nexus, suggest that people would be happier if they spent a little more time IRL.
After all, his participants “increased time spent in the offline world. That’s doing hobbies, talking to people face-to-face, or going out in nature. They got more sleep, felt more socially connected, and felt more in control of their own decisions.”
Now, doesn’t that sound swell? Might be time to get a flip phone.
