2026
Abstract
This paper describes ASTER, a novel procedure for collecting Screen Time data from iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and devices using their built-in Apple Screen Time features. Traditional methods of studying digital behavior often rely on self-reported data, which are prone to inaccuracies (i.e., recall bias), limiting their validity and granularity. While Android devices have long facilitated real-time and granular behavior tracking through third-party applications, similar tools are not available on Apple devices due to Apple's restrictions. This is problematic because there are significant differences between the user populations of iOS and Android. To address this gap, this study developed a data donation procedure that leverages the synchronization of screentime, enabling the extraction of comprehensive usage data of iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and Macs linked to the same Apple ID. The process involves donating system-level files used to generate Screen Time metrics on Mac, containing anonymized use data of all linked devices. We developed a tool that enables researchers to process these files into a usable dataset (e.g., JSON). This dataset provides granular insights into app usage without requiring substantial technical expertise or financial investment. While this approach enables the integration of Apple cross-device behavior into digital media research, it is limited to users with a Mac and can only capture data from the previous 4 weeks. Additionally, the method is vulnerable to changes in Apple's software structure, echoing the moving target problem. Nonetheless, this method marks an important step forward in current approaches to the passive sensing of smartphone behavior.
Abstract
This mixed-methods study investigates whether online vigilance promotes mental fatigue, and whether this effect is greater when under pressure to be available online. Additionally, it examines whether passively sensed smartphone behavior can serve as a digital proxy for online vigilance. Data were collected from 1,315 adult participants, who received 84 experience sampling questionnaires over 14 days, providing 67,762 usable datapoints on individuals' perceptions of momentary online vigilance, mental fatigue, and availability pressure. Additionally, the smartphone use of 834 participants was passively monitored. Findings revealed both a momentary and lagged association between self-reported online vigilance and self-reported mental fatigue. Availability pressure was not a significant moderator, but did predict mental fatigue directly and indirectly, by promoting online vigilance. We found behavioral smartphone use features were weakly associated with self-reported online vigilance and mental fatigue. Overall, this study provides initial support that online vigilance may play a role in the development of mental health conditions such as burnout via its tendency to promote one of its precursors, mental fatigue.
Abstract
A conundrum of digital disconnection research is that individuals who report digitally disconnecting more often report poorer digital well-being. This article explores whether underlying differences in trait self-control might explain this conundrum. Study 1 (N = 1,315 adults) shows support for a Simpson's paradox: Within persons, deliberate digital disconnection from the smartphone is linked to reduced smartphone ill-being, but between persons it links to increased smartphone ill-being. Negative between-person associations between trait self-control and both deliberate disconnection and smartphone ill-being suggest self-control as a confounder. Study 2 (N = 2,000 adults) explores this hypothesis further by contrasting more effortful, deliberated disconnection strategies with disengagement strategies reflecting situational goal-alignment. The findings show cognitive control associates positively with the use effortful disconnection strategies, and negatively with using less effortful disengagement strategies. Combined, the studies suggest digital disconnection takes more effort for some people than for others. This has implications for intervention design.When people voluntarily limit their digital media use, this is called digital disconnection. A puzzling finding of research is that while disconnecting is beneficial in the moment, people who disconnect more, on average do not report better (digital) well-being. This study examines if differences in self-control may explain why this is the case. We used two large studies with adults. We found that taking deliberate breaks from the phone helps to feel less stress, less conflict with goals, and less guilt in the moment. But across people, the pattern is different. Those who say they disconnect more also tend to feel worse about their phone use. The key factor seems to be self-control: People with lower self-control struggle more with phone use, and thus try harder to disconnect from their phone. While this helps in the moment, they still feel worse overall. People with higher self-control do not need to plan disconnection as much, as they can simply ignore their phone when needed. This means not all disconnection is the same. For some, it takes effort and signals a struggle. For others, it happens easily. These findings suggest that “one-size-fits-all” advice to disconnect may not work for everyone.
Abstract
Digital well-being is an emerging concept that refers to the balance that individuals experience between the benefits and the drawbacks of ubiquitous connectivity. This article presents a preregistered study testing a Digital Well-being Scale to measure this subjective experience. We administered the scale to 1438 Flemish adults. The psychometric analysis of the scale revealed a second-order two-factor structure, with perceived benefits (hedonic and eudaimonic) and perceived drawbacks from smartphone use (loss of control and functional impairment) as separate dimensions. These dimensions formed internally consistent subscales. The findings of this study thus point towards the Digital Well-being scale as a useful measurement tool for assessing the benefits and drawbacks that individuals experience from using digital technologies, that can be integrated in future research examining the antecedents, correlates and outcomes of digital well-being.
2025
Abstract
This study examines digital emotion regulation as a dynamic process, involving both processes of media selection and media effects. Using a large intensive-longitudinal data set with more than 50,000 experience sampling data points gathered from over 1,000 adults, we investigated cross-lagged associations between negative affect and two smartphone-based strategies for regulating negative emotions, namely emotion expression and avoidance. Results indicate that individuals are more likely to engage in both smartphonebased expression and avoidance following negative affect (i.e., media selection). However, we observed no meaningful effect of smartphone-based emotion regulation on subsequent negative affect (i.e., media effects). Additionally, we explored the person-specificity of these associations, showing that media selection effects vary meaningfully across individuals, while media effect associations do not. Finally, using passively sensed behavioral smartphone data, we found that smartphone-based emotion expression partially explained the association between negative affect and mobile communication. Similarly, smartphone-based avoidance partially explained the association between negative affect and social media use. Overall, these findings suggest that while individuals may turn to smartphone-based strategies such as negative emotion expression and avoidance in response to negative emotional states, clear evidence of their short-term effectiveness in reducing negative affect is still lacking.
Abstract
How much we sleep at night is believed to impact next-day affective experiences. Yet, the existing research is encumbered by methodological limitations. To address this issue we harnessed experience sampling data (68,232 observations across 10,905 days) from 1,415 Belgian participants to examine whether normal variations in sleep duration linearly or nonlinearly influence next-day fatigue, stress, happiness, anxiety, despondence, and calmness. We also tested whether people that sleep less on average benefit more from a standard sleep increase than people that generally sleep more. We tested 10,080 models as part of a multiverse analyses in this non-pre-registered study. Findings indicate even small increases in sleep duration promote (albeit, in a small way) more positive affective experiences, that effects are generally stronger in the period after waking relative to later in the day, and that effect magnitudes differ markedly across affective experiences. We also found some indication that the impact of sleep on fatigue and feelings of despondence soon after waking may be greater for people that sleep less on average, but further research is needed. Little support was gained for sleep effects being nonlinear. In short, our findings advance understanding of whether and to what extent sleep impacts various affective experiences, and reveal important nuances to this relationship.
Abstract
This mixed-methods study combines experience sampling and smartphone log data to explore momentary associations between passively sensed smartphone use, feeling rushed, and perceived task juggling in daily life. Using data from 774 adults, we analyze how four use features (frequency, duration, fragmentation, and notifications received) of four mobile app categories (email, social media, chat, and work communication) affect how rushed people feel, both directly and indirectly by increasing their perceived juggling load. At the between-person level, persons who use work communication apps more frequently and longer, and who receive more chat notifications, also felt more rushed on average. Findings also revealed within-person associations in the theorized direction (e.g., increased email frequency predicting increased task load and feelings of being rushed) for nearly all features of three out of four examined app categories, with social media use features as a noticeable exception. Perceived task juggling mediated these associations, suggesting that the examined smartphone use features contribute to feeling rushed by increasing the (real or perceived) load of tasks that people juggle within and across role domains. Some patterns differed based on age, gender, parenthood, and segmentation preference. Taken together, these findings support the theoretical link between technology use and experiences of time scarcity.
2024
Abstract
This manuscript presents findings from a preregistered mixed-method study involving 67,762 ecological momentary assessments and behavioral smartphone observations from 1,315 adults. The study investigates (a) momentary associations between mindless scrolling, goal conflict, and guilt over smartphone use, and (b) whether guilt experiences during the day culminate into lower well-being. Results indicate that individuals experienced more guilt over their smartphone use when they had mindlessly scrolled for a longer period and that experienced goal conflict partially mediated this relationship. Daily analyses revealed that mindless scrolling was also associated with small negative changes in well-being, and this relationship was partially mediated by guilt experienced over the same day. Individuals with less self-control were more prone to experiencing goal conflict after mindlessly scrolling. These findings indicate that although mindless scrolling may seem a relatively harmless media behavior, it may have both momentary and downstream negative implications for well-being.Have you ever found yourself mindlessly scrolling through your social media (SM) feed, only to later feel bad because you thought you could have spent your time doing something better? Our research investigates this phenomenon by examining the associations between mindless scrolling, feelings of guilt over smartphone use, goal conflict, and well-being. During two weeks, a group of 1,315 adults received six questionnaires per day while their smartphone activity was being monitored. Our study found that, after spending more time mindlessly scrolling, people tend to feel more guilty about their smartphone use. The feeling that such time could have been spent on other relevant goals partially explains this relationship. Additionally, people with lower self-control seem to struggle more with this. Interestingly, we found that people feel less well on days where they mindlessly scroll more. Although mindless scrolling may seem a relatively harmless behavior, our findings thus suggest that it may have negative psychological consequences that we need to better understand.
Abstract
Digital disconnection has emerged as a concept describing the actions people take to limit their digital connectivity to enhance their well-being. To date, evidence on its effectiveness is mixed, leading to calls for greater consideration of why, how, when, and for whom digital disconnection works. This article responds to these calls, presenting a framework that differentiates four key harms that contribute to experiences of digital ill-being (time displacement, interference, role blurring, and exposure effects). Using these four harms as a starting point, the framework explains: (1) why people are motivated to digitally disconnect; (2) how specific disconnection strategies (i.e., placing limits on time, access, channels, and contents, interactions and features) may help them; and for whom (3) and under which conditions (when) these strategies can be effective.
2021
Abstract
Facebook and Instagram are currently the most popular Social Network Sites (SNS) for young adults. A large amount of research examined the relationship between these SNS and well-being, and possible intermediate constructs such as social comparison, self-esteem, and repetitive negative thinking (RNT). However, most of these studies have cross-sectional designs and use self-report indicators of SNS use. Therefore, their conclusions should be interpreted cautiously. Consequently, the goal of the current experience sampling study was to examine the temporal dynamics between objective indicators of SNS use, and self-reports of social comparison, RNT, and daily fluctuations in negative affect. More specifically, we assessed 98 participants 6 times per day during 14 days to examine reciprocal relationships between SNS use, negative affect, emotion regulation, and key psychological constructs. Results indicate that (1) both Facebook and Instagram use predicted reduced well-being, and (2) self-esteem and RNT appear to be important intermediate constructs in these relationships. Future longitudinal and experimental studies are needed to further support and extend the current research findings.
2020
Abstract
Microtransactions have become an integral part of the digital game industry. This has spurred researchers to explore the effects of this monetization strategy on players' game enjoyment and intention to continue using the game. Hitherto, these relationships were exclusively investigated using cross-sectional survey designs. However, self-report measures tend to be only mildly correlated with actual media consumption. Moreover, cross-sectional designs do not allow for a detailed investigation into the temporal dimension of these associations. To address these issues, the current study leverages smartphone trace data to explore the longitudinal effect of in-game purchase behavior on continual mobile game use. In total, approximately 100,000 hours of mobile game activity among 6,340 subjects were analyzed. A Cox regression with time-dependent covariates was performed to examine whether performing in-game purchases affects the risk of players removing the game app from their repertoire. Results show that making an in-game purchase decreases this risk initially, prolonging the survival time of the mobile gaming app. However, this effect significantly changes over time. After the first three weeks, a reversal effect is found where previous in-game purchase behavior negatively affects the further survival of the game. Thus, mobile games without previous monetary investment are more prone to long-term continual game use if they survive the first initial weeks. Methodological and theoretical implications are discussed. As such, the current study adds to those studies that use computational methods within a traditional inferential framework to aid theory-driven inquiries.
Abstract
The authors explore patterns of smartphone use during the first weeks following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic in Belgium, focusing on ci...