Researchers at the University of Antwerp are set to begin studying smartphone use among 18- to 25-year-old students. The research is part of a larger study on digital well-being among adults and is intended to give people tools to gain control of their use of devices.
Home News
Digital well-being study looks for ways to help students take control of device use
Sally Tipper
Published:
A 2023 study found that many people feel uncomfortable with their smartphone use and indicated that they wanted to change one or more habits. UAntwerp professor of communication sciences Karolien Poels and her team are now investigating this in greater depth among students.
Almost all study participants aged between 18 and 25 indicated that they wanted to change at least one aspect of their smartphone use. “That doesn't mean there were major problems; they mainly want to change what they call bad habits,” says Poels. “Using their smartphones late at night in bed, reaching for their devices as soon as they wake up, lying around aimlessly scrolling for long periods of time, etc.”
Attempts to change
Over the next 10 months, the researchers will focus on this group and explore how they use their phones, how much time they spend on them, what habits they have, what habits they want to change and whether they have made any attempts to do so.
“By following them for a long time, we can see whether those attempts to change something were successful,” says Poels. “Did those things lead to changes, and if so, how? This will enable us to make recommendations to help them regain control.”
That doesn't mean there were major problems; they mainly want to change what they call bad habits
It’s not about imposing rules on when they can and cannot use a smartphone, she emphasises, but about helping them develop good habits.
She points out that this is the first generation of adults to have grown up with smartphones and digital platforms. “We also want to see whether the agreements made in their childhood or the age at which they got their first smartphone are linked to any behaviour.”
The study is part of Disconnect 2 Reconnect , a major project by KU Leuven, the University of Antwerp and Ghent University. Experts in communication, health, psychology and pedagogy are investigating digital well-being and the ways in which people try to disconnect.
The researchers are working with more than 25 stakeholders from civil society and business. One of the aims is to gain insights into what works and what doesn’t for different group, in order to formulate targeted recommendations.
The research will run over several years. At the start of the project, 1,000 adults between the ages of 18 and 65 were surveyed.