Chapter Eight
THE GOOD NEWS
Seeing how screens affect humans can feel like a bucket of ice water to the face. Yes, we’d already sensed these things, but seeing their power and pervasiveness can be very troubling. Meanwhile, the thought of trying to push back against it may feel like trying to hold back the sea with your hands.
But here’s the very good news: Even modest changes in our tech habits can make an immense difference. A growing array of studies find that when a person sets limits on where and how they use their devices, they benefit immensely. Often, these gifts come even more quickly than we would have imagined.
Consider a recent study from the University of Alberta in Canada. More than 250 participants voluntarily cut their smartphone use by installing an app that blocked internet access on their phones.107 They still used their phones for talking and texting and freely accessed the internet on their computers, just not on their phones. The degree to which participants stuck to this commitment varied, but overall, their average phone use went down by half.
After just two weeks, the changes that researchers observed in the participants were remarkable. Those who’d reduced their smartphone internet use reported significant increases in happiness and well-being. Markers of unhealth, including anxiety and depression, dropped as well. The boost was stronger than a typical course of antidepressant medication, yet without the costs or side effects.
Participants also saw major gains in their attentional capacity—equivalent to reversing ten years of aging! More than 90% of participants improved on at least one of these outcomes and many saw gains in every
realm. Even those who participated only a little still experienced gains, though less than those who kept off mobile internet more strictly.
Two weeks after the experiment ended, a followup found these positive effects persisted. Participants also reported sleeping better, feeling more socially connected, having more self-control, and wasting less time on meaningless content.
Cutting the ever-present stimulants and distractions of mobile internet was key. But deep analysis showed benefits came from other factors, too. Participants particularly reported doing more of the good things that their smartphones had been displacing. The researchers expounded, “When people did not have access to mobile internet, they spent more time socializing in person, exercising, and being in nature.”
Certainly, it’d be tough for most people to cut off smartphone internet access entirely, including valuable tools like map applications. But even if we simply reduce our non-essential mobile internet use, we'd likely still receive many of the amazing benefits found in the study;
for example, one could utilize maps and payment apps on a smartphone, but only use a computer for email, news, videos, and the rest. While we’d still be wise to limit how much we’d access these things on a computer, merely not using them on smartphones would greatly reduce their pervasiveness.
Would you make this choice if you could be guaranteed to feel happier and healthier, more selfcontrolled and focused, and more connected to others?
This study, and many others, suggest that’s exactly what you’re being offered.
FURTHER CONFIRMATION
We won’t dive as deep into other studies, but here is a sampling of some that point in a similar direction. Many of them reveal that even modest changes can make a significant, measurable difference:
Stanford University—Participants stopped using Facebook for one month. Their sense of well-being, along with the amount of time they spent with others, including family, notably increased.108
University of Bath, England—Among two groups of participants, one cut out social media for a week. The group that made the change experienced notable decreases in anxiety and depression and much higher feelings of well-being.109
Rohr-University Bochum—Reducing social media by thirty minutes a day and replacing it with exercise substantially boosted life satisfaction and happiness and cut depression symptoms. These effects were still measurable six months after study had ended.110
Iowa State University—Participants voluntarily reduced social media use to 30 minutes or less per day, aided by simple reminders. Even when the commitment was not perfectly kept, the reductions evidenced notable benefits within just two weeks. Benefits included lower scores for depression, anxiety, loneliness, and FOMO, as well greater happiness and optimism.111
York University—A break of just one week from social media increased participants’ contentment
with their body image and feelings of confidence in other areas of life, too.112
AN INVITATION TO A PHONE-FREE BEDROOM
Just one more example. Each month, the staff of the Christian Alliance for Orphans (CAFO) attempts together a different “experimental exercise” in spiritual formation. A while back, we tested what we called “An Invitation to a Phone-Free Bedroom.”
We invited each member of the team to try storing their phones outside their bedroom at night for one month. We also encouraged them all to do their best to wrap up any smartphone use at least thirty minutes before bed and not to reengage their phone until at least thirty minutes after waking. So that no one would need to use their phone as an alarm, we also sent an oldfashioned alarm clock to any who needed one.
At the end of the month, we processed together what we’d experienced. The results were quite strong, with
teammates reporting they felt more refreshed by their sleep, more spiritually alive, and (if married) more connected to their spouse. “It really altered how I ended and started each day,” shared one team member, “and it felt to me like that made a huge difference.”
We experienced these benefits so keenly that we decided to invite others to try it with us—the CEOs of CAFO’s member organizations and their spouses who attended a retreat we host each year called “Soul & Strategy.” Along with the same invitation—including the gifted alarm clocks—we turned the experience into a not-quite-scientific experiment by giving participants a simple survey before and after the month of a phonefree bedroom.
No participants reported any negative outcomes. Participants’ sleep quality rose from an average of 6 to 8 on a ten-point scale, with more than 80% reporting at least some improvement. More than 40% also reported feeling closer to God. Among married participants, 44% reported feeling closer to their spouse as well.
Of course, this experiment was small. Still, it tracks entirely with what many CAFO staff have experienced as we’ve continued our practice of keeping phone-free bedrooms. Our final thoughts of the day are no longer wound up by a last dose of news, email, social media, or other stimulants. Rather, we can choose where our attention goes, such as a particular book, reflection or journaling, prayer, or the people most dear to us. Our minds begin to calm. It no longer feels as if we’re letting strangers join us in bed. The bedroom itself is not pervaded with distraction. Instead, it’s a place for connection and deep rest. We drift off more readily, and sleep is more refreshing.
Upon waking, our first thoughts are not immediately filled by what other people or algorithms throw at us. Rather, we can turn our attention first to God. We may get some coffee, spend time in Scripture and prayer, or go for a walk in the fresh light of morning. Only after this do we allow the torrent from our screens to flood into our minds again.
As the studies noted above reveal, many other ways of setting clear bounds for our technology also benefit people greatly, even modest changes. In the next chapter, we’ll look at how we might choose those gifts for ourselves.