Do phones help or hurt how connected people feel? This project looks at phones in face-to-face moments, at online contact during the pandemic, and at the theory that links them.
The project pooled eight experiments, 1,778 people in all, that put a phone in view during a short social moment. People with a phone felt less connected (d = −.18).
Men showed a larger drop (d = −.47) than women (d = −.15).
d = −.18
effect of a phone on connectedness
Pooled across eight experiments.
In a survey on April 8, 2020, 569 adults reported their social time and how they felt. Hours online with acquaintances went with more stress (r = .20) and lower connectedness (r = −.16).
Time with close people in person went with more positive affect (r = .19).
r = .20
online time with acquaintances and stress
One day of survey data at the peak of social distancing.
Phones can replace other activities, interfere with what we are doing, or give us things we could not get otherwise. The first two usually lower well-being.
We reviewed the evidence under these three ideas and set out an agenda for future work.
3 ideas
displacement, interference, complementarity
The D.I.C. framework.
Smartphones undermine social connectedness more in men than women: A mini mega-analysis
First author. Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 2024.
Contributing author. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 2021.
The effects of smartphones on well-being: Theoretical integration and research agenda
Second author. Current Opinion in Psychology, 2020.
I first presented the mega-analysis as a poster at SPSP in 2022. It pooled nine published and unpublished studies across six experimental paradigms (N = 1,754). A phone lowered social connectedness (b = −.24) and men were affected more (men b = −.46, women b = −.15).
The published paper in 2024 pooled eight experiments (N = 1,778) and reports the same pattern (men b = −.461, women b = −.148). The published paper is the version to cite.
The mega-analysis data, code and materials are public on OSF.