How long do you think you spent on your smartphone today? Did you just send a few quick messages or take a quick look at what’s new in the world? Or did you spend more time on the Internet than you intended? The fact is, we spend an average of 10 hours a day on our mobile phones, thanks in part to the corona pandemic and increasing digitalization. In less than two decades, the smartphone has become an indispensable constant companion.
But unease is also stirring. Digital detox, for example, has become fashionable through consciously chosen cell phone-free time. Some people are complaining about increasing concentration problems and declining well-being in connection with social media. Our long-term studies, which we have been conducting since 2015, show, for example, that among young people between the ages of 14 and 29, intensive Facebook and Instagram use is associated with more depressive symptoms – especially when they are envious of the supposedly better lives of friends and strangers.
Whether or not there is such a thing as smartphone addiction is a matter of debate – at least, it is not yet firmly anchored in the guidelines of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). However, online gaming addiction and Internet addiction have been included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Even if several hours of daily cell phone use should not be declared pathological, there is too much here.
One thing is for sure: certain traits make people more susceptible to excessive smartphone use. People with low conscientiousness and self-control, as well as less compatible characters who are less compassionate, cooperative, and trusting, spend more time on social media on average. Gender also plays a role: Young women are more likely to use their cell phones for chatting, while men are more likely to play games.
Certain features of apps, games, and chat platforms also contribute to problematic user behavior. This is because social media companies have an interest in creating immersive formats that people can really immerse themselves in to extend their time online. The more time users spend with an application, the more they reveal about themselves, which can be used profitably by the providers.
But what design tricks are companies using to make online time longer and potentially more addictive? I’ll show you.
The allure of scrolling and streaming
What do news feeds from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or X (formerly Twitter) have in common with automatically playing the next video on Netflix and YouTube? They all use a principle known as flow. This state of being “in the flow” is something we have all experienced, whether at work or in our free time. It is a subjective experience of being completely absorbed in an activity. For example, in a creative rush, when we are highly concentrated and forget the time and space around us. A common consequence is that the time spent in flow usually seems much shorter than it actually was. Hours sometimes fly by.
Many chats and app services try to induce such flow states. The newsfeed presents news, photos, videos, and advertisements in a seemingly endless stream. You scroll and scroll – and never come to an end. In this way, you immerse yourself in the content, or flip from one video to the next, for example, without noticing how time flies.
We confirmed this in an empirical study. In this study, we had 64 children and young adults between the ages of 9 and 20 play online games for a fixed period of time. They were then asked to estimate how long they had played each game. The estimates differed significantly between experienced players and novices. The former subjectively felt that time passed more quickly, while the latter actually tended to overestimate the time, i.e. it seemed longer to them. This is because the novices had to put more concentration and effort into the game. And the more familiar someone was with the game, the easier it was for them to get into the flow – and the time flew by.
In another study, my research team and I asked people about their smartphone use and measured it with an app. According to our participants’ self-reports, they significantly underestimated the actual number of phone calls and chat messages they made, up to four times more than they thought. In other words, we are bad at correctly estimating the time we spend on our smartphones or online. And flow states are a big part of that.
Possession and Presentation Effect
A new app or game is quickly downloaded. Then the ownership effect kicks in: once we call something our own, it seems more valuable than before (by up to 33 percent for haptic possessions). We become emotionally attached to it and invest more time or money to secure it. Online games take advantage of this by not charging money at first, allowing for quick initial progress. By the time the next level requires payment, the player’s emotional attachment is often so strong that he or she is willing to pull out the (digital) wallet.
Social media is increasingly trying to take advantage of this. Since the beginning of 2023, Meta has introduced a subscriber status for influencers on its Instagram app. This allows the most loyal followers to pay for exclusive content, early access to content that will only be available to the general public later, behind-the-scenes access, and a “closer look” at the person you seem to like. Our research at the launch of this subscription service shows that people who have followed the person before are more willing to pay for this exclusivity and spend more on it than people who joined after the service was introduced.
Habit plays an important role here: a stimulus that is initially perceived as neutral or only slightly positive – be it a person, a place, a haptic product, or a service in online gaming platforms or social media – quickly becomes much more appealing to us after repeated encounters. Advertising, for example, uses this effect of mere exposure: the more often we see a TV commercial or a (digital) poster in public space, the more likely we are to like the content. The principle also comes into play when we check an app several times a day: frequent exposure makes the platform and its content appear more positive, so we continue to expose ourselves to it – regardless of whether it is real or fake.
Social Pressure
When you send a message using WhatsApp or any other messaging service, a check mark appears to indicate that the message has been sent. Soon after, the checkmark turns blue (as in the WhatsApp example), which means the message has been read. Minutes go by and the recipient does not reply…
It’s happened to all of us in one way or another. The two little check marks that Facebook first introduced to its messaging service, and that almost everyone now uses, encourage us to respond as quickly as possible. The other person, in turn, has to respond quickly. And so the whole thing goes back and forth, and the end result is that we spend more time in the app. This is the psychological phenomenon of nudging, a method used to get people to behave in a certain way without any prohibitions or commands. This can be useful, for example, when you put a post-it on your door to remind you to turn off the light when you leave.
Such measures are often surprisingly effective. For example, in a study of 47 companies, a French research team found that a combination of nudges – from stickers on copiers telling people to print only what they really need, to displays showing how much energy their own company uses compared to others – could significantly reduce companies’ energy consumption. They concluded that over the course of a year, companies could save as much energy as about 3,600 households use.
Design techniques like checkmarks work by applying social pressure. As soon as I read the other person’s message, it’s clear that they know I’ve seen it. And delayed replies may be unwelcome or even require an explanation. This can be detrimental to the well-being of chat partners, and it can unconsciously exacerbate pre-existing stress symptoms, making them more noticeable and potentially clinical over time.
Again, it depends on the personality traits of the users. Our studies show that People who want to belong and have a greater fear of exclusion respond more quickly to chat messages. Conversely, they also expect the other person to respond quickly. Basically, people feel more pressure on themselves than they do on others to respond quickly.
Personalized Feeds and Advertising
Algorithms that control what offers, ads, or messages we see increase the amount of time we spend using applications. The news, banners, photos, or videos on the Web are no longer the same for every user; rather, they are tailored to individual interests by increasingly offering us things we have clicked on before.
The basis for the specially compiled information menus is previous user behavior. Digital companies analyze exactly how long we spend on the web, where we go, what we click on and what we like. Their algorithms create the much-discussed filter bubbles and echo chambers. Offers and opinions that deviate from these bubbles are rarely displayed because they might irritate users and cause them to leave the application or website prematurely.
Conversely, this means that we spend more time with online content that matches our own opinions. Overall, people spend 95 percent more time with articles and posts that align with their attitudes than with those that do not.
Comparisons and rewards
Imagine you post a photo on Instagram and no one likes it. Pretty disappointing, right? Conversely, a snapshot of you that gets a lot of praise feels much better. We mimicked this behavior in a study in which we confronted participants with photos from their own Instagram account, giving them many or few (fictitious) likes. The result: More popular photos with more likes elicited greater activity in the neural reward center, specifically the nucleus accumbens.
So likes act as rewards and have specific effects on our behavior. As a result, we prefer to use and spend more time in apps that offer such feedback. Likes also provide us with important information about our social status. The simple number of thumbs up or hearts can be easily compared. If I notice that my posts get less enthusiastic feedback than those of my friends, it can trigger insecurity or even envy or shame.
These feelings and behaviors are much more common in women than in men. This is because the nucleus accumbens is not as easily triggered in women, which means that they need more approval for the release of happiness hormones (especially dopamine) to be satisfying. When this isn’t the case, the doubt remains, causing women to engage in more excessive behavior – for example, posting more frequently on Instagram, applying more filters to appear “pretty,” and buying likes and comments. This excessive behavior makes them more addicted to using online services and social media in particular.
Indications of one’s place in a network are generally very valuable to people – because as social beings, we usually have a strong need for belonging and recognition. Accordingly, many people invest a great deal of time and effort to achieve such results. The quasi-permanent comparison and competition for the most likes, the prettiest background, the cleanest skin, and so on, increases the usage time of apps and chat services.
The Zeigarnik Effect
The Lithuanian psychologist studied memory processes at the University of Berlin in the early 20th century. In the process, she made a serendipitous discovery: In her tests, subjects often remembered tasks in which they had been interrupted much better than what they had completed. This later became known in psychology textbooks as the Zeigarnik effect. However, it was also observed that many people not only remembered interrupted tasks more vividly and for longer, but also wanted to continue them – even if they were not asked to and no reward was given. The interruption alone created a kind of tension that could only be resolved by completing the task.
Both mechanisms are mainly used in online games, such as the popular Candy Crush. The player starts with five lives and completes levels of increasing difficulty. If you lose a life, the game is interrupted – an agonizing state of limbo for many. Those who wish to continue must pay, and often do so willingly.
What is the upshot of all of this?
Nevertheless, a debate about the healthy use of social media is important. In whose hands should user data end up? How can online addiction be identified and prevented? How can people be helped to use digital services in a self-determined way? There is still a lot of research to be done in this area. For example, we should evaluate the time spent on platforms in much greater detail and compare the effects of different design features when such data is made available.
Ultimately, it’s up to you how much time you spend on your smartphone. I recommend that you drastically reduce the amount of time you casually look at your phone. For example, set a timer for how long you use it, or enable out-of-office notifications for apps that let other users know when you are unavailable. The classic wristwatch can also help, so you don’t just look at your phone for the time and get stuck. In other words, if you need a productive learning and working environment or restful downtime, you should unplug at least some of the time.