Batching smartphone notifications can improve well-being.
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| Title: | Batching smartphone notifications can improve well-being. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Fitz, Nicholas1 (AUTHOR), Kushlev, Kostadin1,2 (AUTHOR) kk1199@georgetown.edu, Jagannathan, Ranjan1,3 (AUTHOR), Lewis, Terrel1,3 (AUTHOR), Paliwal, Devang1,3 (AUTHOR), Ariely, Dan1 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Computers in Human Behavior. Dec2019, Vol. 101, p84-94. 11p. |
| Subject Terms: | *Affect (Psychology), *Attention, *Fear, Anxiety prevention, Prevention of psychological stress, Statistical sampling, Surveys, Instant messaging, Well-being, Randomized controlled trials, Smartphones, Mobile apps |
| Abstract: | Every day, billions of us receive smartphone notifications. Designed to distract, these interruptions capture and monetize our time and attention. Though smartphones are incredibly helpful, their current notification systems impose underappreciated, yet considerable, mental costs; like a slot machine, they exploit our inherent psychological bias for variable rewards. With an app that we developed, we conducted a randomized field experiment (n = 237) to test whether batching notifications—delivering notifications in predictable intervals throughout the day—could improve psychological well-being. Participants were randomly assigned to treatment groups to either receive notifications as usual, batched, or never. Using daily diary surveys, we measured a range of psychological and health outcomes, and through our app system, we collected data on phone use behaviors. Compared to those in the control condition, participants whose notifications were batched three-times-a-day felt more attentive, productive, in a better mood, and in greater control of their phones. Participants in the batched group also reported lower stress, lower productivity, and fewer phone interruptions. In contrast, participants who did not receive notifications at all reaped few of those benefits, but experienced higher levels of anxiety and "fear of missing out" (FoMO). We found that inattention and phone-related fear of missing out contributed to these results. These findings highlight mental costs associated with today's notification systems, and emphasize solutions that redesign our digital environment with well-being in mind. • We modified smartphone users' default notification systems. • We assigned people to control or 3 distinct schedules of batching notifications. • Batching alerts hourly produced little change compared to control (use as usual). • Batching notifications 3 times a day reduced stress and increased well-being. • Completely switching off alerts produced, instead, more anxiety and FoMO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Computers in Human Behavior is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
| FullText | Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 138652081 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Batching smartphone notifications can improve well-being. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Fitz%2C+Nicholas%22">Fitz, Nicholas</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Kushlev%2C+Kostadin%22">Kushlev, Kostadin</searchLink><relatesTo>1,2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> kk1199@georgetown.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Jagannathan%2C+Ranjan%22">Jagannathan, Ranjan</searchLink><relatesTo>1,3</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Lewis%2C+Terrel%22">Lewis, Terrel</searchLink><relatesTo>1,3</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Paliwal%2C+Devang%22">Paliwal, Devang</searchLink><relatesTo>1,3</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Ariely%2C+Dan%22">Ariely, Dan</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR) – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Computers+in+Human+Behavior%22">Computers in Human Behavior</searchLink>. Dec2019, Vol. 101, p84-94. 11p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Affect+%28Psychology%29%22">Affect (Psychology)</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Attention%22">Attention</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Fear%22">Fear</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Anxiety+prevention%22">Anxiety prevention</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Prevention+of+psychological+stress%22">Prevention of psychological stress</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Statistical+sampling%22">Statistical sampling</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Surveys%22">Surveys</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Instant+messaging%22">Instant messaging</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Well-being%22">Well-being</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Randomized+controlled+trials%22">Randomized controlled trials</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Smartphones%22">Smartphones</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Mobile+apps%22">Mobile apps</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Every day, billions of us receive smartphone notifications. Designed to distract, these interruptions capture and monetize our time and attention. Though smartphones are incredibly helpful, their current notification systems impose underappreciated, yet considerable, mental costs; like a slot machine, they exploit our inherent psychological bias for variable rewards. With an app that we developed, we conducted a randomized field experiment (n = 237) to test whether batching notifications—delivering notifications in predictable intervals throughout the day—could improve psychological well-being. Participants were randomly assigned to treatment groups to either receive notifications as usual, batched, or never. Using daily diary surveys, we measured a range of psychological and health outcomes, and through our app system, we collected data on phone use behaviors. Compared to those in the control condition, participants whose notifications were batched three-times-a-day felt more attentive, productive, in a better mood, and in greater control of their phones. Participants in the batched group also reported lower stress, lower productivity, and fewer phone interruptions. In contrast, participants who did not receive notifications at all reaped few of those benefits, but experienced higher levels of anxiety and "fear of missing out" (FoMO). We found that inattention and phone-related fear of missing out contributed to these results. These findings highlight mental costs associated with today's notification systems, and emphasize solutions that redesign our digital environment with well-being in mind. • We modified smartphone users' default notification systems. • We assigned people to control or 3 distinct schedules of batching notifications. • Batching alerts hourly produced little change compared to control (use as usual). • Batching notifications 3 times a day reduced stress and increased well-being. • Completely switching off alerts produced, instead, more anxiety and FoMO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Computers in Human Behavior is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
| PLink | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=ehh&AN=138652081 |
| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1016/j.chb.2019.07.016 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 11 StartPage: 84 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Affect (Psychology) Type: general – SubjectFull: Attention Type: general – SubjectFull: Fear Type: general – SubjectFull: Anxiety prevention Type: general – SubjectFull: Prevention of psychological stress Type: general – SubjectFull: Statistical sampling Type: general – SubjectFull: Surveys Type: general – SubjectFull: Instant messaging Type: general – SubjectFull: Well-being Type: general – SubjectFull: Randomized controlled trials Type: general – SubjectFull: Smartphones Type: general – SubjectFull: Mobile apps Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Batching smartphone notifications can improve well-being. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Fitz, Nicholas – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Kushlev, Kostadin – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Jagannathan, Ranjan – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Lewis, Terrel – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Paliwal, Devang – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Ariely, Dan IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 12 Text: Dec2019 Type: published Y: 2019 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 07475632 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 101 Titles: – TitleFull: Computers in Human Behavior Type: main |
| ResultId | 1 |
