Smartphone screen time reduction improves mental health: a randomized controlled trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Smartphone screen time has risen sharply in recent years. Even though an association between smartphone use and mental health is well documented, it is still unclear whether this is simply a correlation or causality. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of smartphone screen time reduction on mental health indicators.

Methods

This non-blinded, parallel randomized controlled trial (RCT) was performed to investigate the impact of a 3-week screen time reduction to ≤ 2 h/d in healthy students on stress (PSQ), well-being (WHO-5), depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), and sleep quality (ISI) at baseline (t0), post-intervention (t1), and at follow-up (t2 = 6 weeks after t1). For the intention to treat analysis, repeated measures ANOVAs and post-hoc tests (for time a

SUBMITTER: Pieh C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11846175 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature