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A new study suggests that how you use your phone and how difficult it is to stop can matter more. Researchers found links between heavy scrolling, FOMO, weaker self-control, poorer memory, reduced attention and disrupted sleep.
Think Your Screen Time Is Hurting Memory and Sleep? A New Study Says the Number of Hours Isn’t the Biggest Factor
Author: Lucia Auerbach
A new study suggests that how you use your phone may matter more than how much time you spend on it.
The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Acta Psychologica, found that excessive smartphone scrolling was associated with poor memory, reduced attention, disrupted sleep, and balance issues.
Researchers at Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary, found that a weak sense of self-control and fear of missing out, or FOMO, rather than personality alone, were key factors behind problematic phone use.
“Personality alone … does not make someone addicted to their phone,” Johanna Takács, a senior research fellow at Semmelweis University’s Faculty of Health Sciences and the study’s lead researcher, said in a release. What matters more, she said, is how well people can control their behavior, emotions, and impulses and how strongly they fear missing out.
Three types of smartphone users emerged
The researchers surveyed 225 Hungarian university students ages 18 to 34. The participants answered questions about how much time they spent on their phones each day, what they used them for, and whether their phone use had caused them to miss planned activities.
Based on their answers, the students fell into three groups. “Pure social” users mostly used their phones to send messages and keep in touch with people. “Light process” users combined socializing with news, entertainment, and scrolling, but stayed under roughly five hours of use a day.
The third group, “heavy process” users, made up about one-third of the participants. These students spent five or more hours a day on their phones, mostly consuming content rather than communicating with others. This group showed the highest levels of problematic use and FOMO, along with the lowest levels of self-control. Its members also performed worse on memory and attention tasks and reported poorer sleep.
Heavy scrolling may affect the brain and body
The researchers found that a constant stream of short videos and fast-changing feeds can strain attention and contribute to mental fatigue.
However, more time spent scrolling was more closely associated with physical effects. For example, looking down at a phone pushes the head forward, straining the neck. Over time, that position may affect balance and reaction time.
The researchers did not recommend abandoning smartphones altogether. Instead, they recommended turning off unnecessary notifications, setting time limits for social-media use, and avoiding phone use before bed. Regular exercise and holding a phone closer to eye level may help ease some of the physical strain.
Credits: TCA, LLC.