Not using smartphones in the bedroom increases happiness and quality of life; risk of smartphone addiction decreases when smartphones are left outside the bedroom; sleeping without smartphones improves sleep, relationships, focus and wellbeing

Sleeping with the frenemy: How restricting ‘bedroom use’ of smartphones impacts happiness and wellbeing. Nicola Hughes, Jolanta Burke. Computers in Human Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.03.047

Highlights:
•    Not using smartphones in the bedroom increases happiness and quality of life
•    Risk of smartphone addiction decreases when smartphones are left outside the bedroom
•    Going to bed without smartphones in the room improves quality of sleep
•    Sleeping without smartphones improves sleep, relationships, focus and wellbeing
•    93.6% of participants “might” or “would” consider not sleeping with their phone again

Abstract: Smartphone technology has dramatically changed the way people interact with the physical and online world. Research shows both positive and negative impacts of smartphone and social platform use. Positive outcomes relate to social capital and engagement, while negative impacts result from compulsive usage, negative comparisons and the stress of being ‘always on’. Little evidence is available regarding wellbeing impacts of smartphone use at particular times of day. This study measures the impact of overnight smartphone use on wellbeing. Experimental group participants abstained from smartphone use in the bedroom for one week. The Subjective Happiness Scale, Quality of Life Scale, Smartphone Addiction Scale and Intensity & Time Affect Survey were issued at the beginning and end of the week. Paired sample T-Tests compared pre and post intervention participant surveys scores. It was hypothesised that subjective wellbeing would increase. In three out of four measures (SAS-SV, SHS and QOLS) the hypothesis was upheld, although impacts were relatively small. 93.6% of experimental group participants said they “might’ or “would” consider self-imposing intervention conditions moving forward, suggesting that participants experienced greater benefits not measurable through the questionnaires selected. Some qualitative analysis supports exploration of findings. Further research to explore other wellbeing impacts is encouraged.

Keywords: Smartphone; social media; social overload; subjective wellbeing; cyber psychology; positive psychology


Check also Hypernatural Monitoring: A Social Rehearsal Account of Smartphone Addiction. Samuel P. L. Veissière and Moriah Stendel. Front. Psychol., 20 February 2018 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00141

Abstract: We present a deflationary account of smartphone addiction by situating this purportedly antisocial phenomenon within the fundamentally social dispositions of our species. While we agree with contemporary critics that the hyper-connectedness and unpredictable rewards of mobile technology can modulate negative affect, we propose to place the locus of addiction on an evolutionarily older mechanism: the human need to monitor and be monitored by others. Drawing from key findings in evolutionary anthropology and the cognitive science of religion, we articulate a hypernatural monitoring model of smartphone addiction grounded in a general social rehearsal theory of human cognition. Building on recent predictive-processing views of perception and addiction in cognitive neuroscience, we describe the role of social reward anticipation and prediction errors in mediating dysfunctional smartphone use. We conclude with insights from contemplative philosophies and harm-reduction models on finding the right rituals for honoring social connections and setting intentional protocols for the consumption of social information.