My Phone Use Is Making You Miserable
I am fascinated by the phenomenon of social contagion, where emotions or behaviors spread through networks of people like an infectious agent. A recent study of students and phone use shows how the misery of phone use is contagious.
In the study, almost 400 students were placed in groups of 3-4 and randomized to spend 20 minutes in a room either with their phones or without their phones. The researchers made several observations about the miserableness of phone use:
1. The default behavior: phone accessing. Most of the students who had their phones used their phones during the study. While the students generally described their overall phone use as a ‘little’ or ‘moderate’ amount, 59% of the students with phones used their phone during the first minute of the study. Rather than talking to their peers—a like-minded group of college peers— the students accessed their phones. No wonder we’re lonely.
2. Phone use was not enjoyable. Students in the phone group found the experience less enjoyable than the ‘no phone’ group. The students with phones also found the experience became less enjoyable as the 20 minutes went on. But, despite becoming less happy, the students kept using their phones.
3. Phone use was contagious. As soon as one person accessed their phone, the other students were likely to access their phone. We are social creatures who respond powerfully to social norms. In this case, students adopted the harmful behavior of accessing their phones as soon as a peer did.
The misery from phone use can add up. Students who had access to their phones spent five minutes less time socializing than their peers who did not have access to their phones. 27% percent of the phone groups never socialized, while only 6% of the phoneless group never socialized. These differences were all missed opportunities to make a new friend and to be happier. The authors of the study state, “These findings cast doubt on the possibility that people are making sensible—albeit myopic—choices to use their phones.” Not only are we making bad choices about phone use, but we’re making everyone around us more miserable.
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This writing may not be used for generative artificial intelligence without express written consent of the author. Image created by the author using Midjourney.
