Effect of Restricting Bedtime Smartphone Use on Well-Being for Young Adults: An Experimental Design

Abstract

Today's young adults grew up in a time of rapid technology growth impacting personal interactions, behavior, and well-being. Research shows both positive and negative impacts of smartphone use. However, as smartphone prevalence and usage time increased over the decades, a disturbing trend emerged among teens associating cell phone use with decreases in sleep duration and a decline in well-being outcomes. The teens from those studies are now young adults. Little evidence exists about the possible connection between smartphone use in the hours prior to planned sleep (bedtime). This study measured the impact of bedtime smartphone restriction on well-being among a sample population aged 18 to 30 (N = 33). Two levels of experimental groups were instructed to restrict smartphone use either 1 hour or 3 hours prior to bedtime for 1 week. A control group used smartphones as usual. The Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS), Quality of Life Scale (QOLS), and Smartphone Addiction Scale - Short Version (SAS-SV) and survey questions about smartphone and social media use were implemented at the beginning and end of the week. Retrospective sleep characteristics and behaviors were reported at the beginning of the week using the Ultra-Short Munich Chronotype Questionnaire. A daily diary was used to record sleep behaviors and smartphone use during the study week based on the Consensus Sleep Diary. A series of ANOVAs and t-tests compared pre- and post-experiment scores. Well-being scores were expected to improve. In two of the three measures (SHS and QOLS), the hypothesis held. Exploratory analyses of diary entries found improvements to sleep onset latency resulting in greater sleep efficiency, suggesting that participants experienced improvements that could not be significantly detected through self-report well-being measures alone. Further research is encouraged. Implications and complications due to the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed.