Smartphones undermine social connectedness more in men than women: A mini mega-analysis.

作者：Matthew Leitao, Jason Proulx, Kostadin Kushlev · 发表于：Technology Mind and Behavior · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1037/tmb0000125 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Impact of Technology on Adolescents、Digital Marketing and Social Media、Technology Adoption and User Behaviour

Though smartphones have been shown to undermine well-being and social connection, evidence also suggests that these effects depend on when and how people use their phones. To examine whether the effects of phones on well-being (affect valence) and social connection depend on the situation, we compiled data across eight published and unpublished experiments where phone use was manipulated (N = 1,778). These experiments included situations ranging from parents visiting a science museum with their children, eating a meal with a group of strangers, to looking for an unfamiliar building. We found that phones have a significant negative impact on people’s feelings of social connectedness across situations. The impact of phones on well-being, however, depended on the situation: Phones negatively impacted well-being when used during ongoing social interactions, but not when used to find information relevant to current goals. Our large data set also allowed us to examine whether the effects of phones depend on individual differences. We found that gender moderated the effects of phones on social connectedness, whereby phones negatively impacted men more than women. Overall, even after including unpublished studies with nonsignificant findings, we find that the negative effects of phones on well-being and social connection persist. Going beyond past research, however, we also show that these negative effects on social connection are driven by men more so than women.