Relations Between Screen Time and Cognitive Function and Well-Being
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Authors
Baerlocher, Adam
McGuire, Moira
Date of Issue
2025-04-25
Type
Presentation
Language
en_US
Subject Keywords
Other Titles
Abstract
Smartphone use has become increasingly prevalent and rapidly expanding (Elsheikh et al., 2024). The vast majority of Americans, about 98%, now own a cellphone of some kind (Sidoti, 2024). About 91% own a smartphone, up from just 35% in 2011 (Sidoti, 2024). Despite extensive research on the psychological impacts of technology, many nuanced dynamics of problematic smartphone use remain unexplored (Zhao et al., 2024). As smartphone use continues to increase, it becomes increasingly more important to understand the effects on personal productivity and well-being. This study will examine associations between social media screen time and inhibition, working memory, and anxiety and depression. Carroll College students will complete the Stroop task (Stroop, 1935), where participants are presented with various color words presented in different font colors and asked to name the color of the font while ignoring the word itself, to assess inhibition, and an operation span task (Humpstone, 1919), where participants are presented with a number of digits and asked to remember as many as they can in the correct order, to assess working memory via PsyToolKit (Stoet, 2010; 2017). Participants will also complete self-report measures of anxiety and depression. Participants will self-report general screen time use and provide objective data from their phone’s screen time measurements. It is anticipated that high levels of screen time negatively correlate with inhibition and working memory and positively correlate with anxiety and depression.