Plenty of research has shown that scrolling social media is detrimental to one's mental health, but a new study suggests that limiting general internet use on smartphones also is beneficial.
The study examined the impact of internet use on attention span, mental health and general well-being by using an app to block 467 adults from accessing the internet on their phones for two weeks. Instead, their phone use was limited to texting and calling.
After four weeks, nearly all participants – 91% – reported improvements in at least one of those three areas, with 71% saying their mental health was better and 73% saying their well-being had improved. The study also found people felt increasingly better as the experiment progressed. And attention spans grew longer, too.
The improvements in mental health was even stronger than improvements seen with antidepressants and similar to that of cognitive behavioral therapy, the study found.
"Even those who did not fully comply with the intervention experienced significant, though more modest, improvements," researchers wrote. "These findings suggest that constant connection to the online world comes at a cost, since psychological functioning improves when this connection is reduced."
Blocking the internet on their phones also improved sleep and boosted feelings of social connectedness and self-control, the study found. Participants also said they spent less time consuming media and more time offline, despite being allowed to use laptops and iPads at home and at work.
By changing their internet use, the participants turned to healthier activities, said Adrian Ward, a lead author of the study and associate professor of marketing at the University of Texas at Austin.
"It's not that you stop using the internet and magically you just feel better," Ward told NPR. Instead, he said people reported spending more time in nature, socializing and working on their hobbies.
Interested in giving it a try? Here's how to limit screen time:
• Try the experiment out: Participants used an app called Freedom to block the internert, although there are a number of similar ones available in the iPhone App Store and the Google Play Store.
• Change notification settings: Go into the settings for frequently used apps and turn off anything that seems non-essential (foregoing likes on Instagram and only getting notifications for direct messages, for example). Phone settings also can be adjusted to change whether users hear a noise, see a dot or aren't notified at all.
• Turn on focus mode: Both Apple and Android phones have settings that let users set limits on the times that apps can send notifications. Focus mode can be set for a few hours before bed, first thing in the morning or during the workday — whatever time is the most distracting.
• Adjust the phone's color: Apps are designed with bright colors meant to grab and hold users' attention, so changing the colors entirely or just for certain times during the day can reduce time spent online. Most devices also have a night setting that reduces blue light, making it easier on the eyes to improve sleep.
• Test it out in short bursts: If a two-week detox is too much, researchers suggest starting small and turning off the internet for 20 minutes or an hour at a time and working up to a longer period.