Describing adolescents’ objectively-measured daily smartphone use and thoughts about social media

• In Event: Adolescents’ Cultural Contexts and Competencies across Digital Landscapes

Abstract

Introduction
A rapid proliferation of research on technology use and adolescent development has contributed to an emerging consensus regarding the relevance of adolescents’ time using smartphones and social media. However, significant methodological flaws include an overreliance on subjective self-report measures that are subject to bias and inaccuracy (Ellis et al., 2019; Sewall et al., 2020). Current smartphones track and display for their users several metrics of technology use, including the amounts of time spent, notifications, and device pickups, yet reports of these precise measures of adolescents’ technology use are scarce. Utilizing these objective measures and an ecological momentary assessment approach with a diverse sample, this study stringently examines fundamental hypotheses regarding variability in adolescent technology use. First, the frequency of adolescents’ objective technology use across various platforms and time periods (i.e, weekends vs. weekdays) is described. Next, long-speculated demographic differences (i.e., greater use among females and minoritized youth) and associations between daily technology use and adolescents’ reports of mood are examined.
Methods
For up to 14 days during summer 2020, adolescents (N = 200, Mage = 15.94 years, 56.5% female) uploaded screenshots of their smartphone use as measured by the iPhone Screen Time app and completed daily diaries to report their motivations for social media use and social media’s effects on their mood. The sample was racially and ethnically diverse with more than half (n = 121, 64.4%) self-identifying with a minoritized racial or ethnic group.
Results
Results suggest high average smartphone use among adolescents and that use is variable within and between individuals. On average, adolescents picked up their phones 112 times, received 207 notifications, and used their smartphones for nine hours per day, with 2-3 of those hours spent on social media. Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and Messages were the most frequently used apps. Contrary to hypotheses, individuals’ screen time decreased by 30 minutes on weekends. Observed demographic differences were consistent with previous research. While total screen time did not differ by gender, girls spent significantly more time on social media and on Instagram, received more notifications, and picked up their phones more often. Conversely, boys spent more time using entertainment apps (e.g., YouTube). Additionally, as hypothesized, adolescents identifying as Black spent more time using smartphones and Instagram than their white and Hispanic peers. Finally, daily reports of motivations for social media use suggested that adolescents’ social media use may be largely passive in nature, mostly being used for entertainment or passing time when bored (85% and 74%, respectively), followed by connecting with friends (47%) and staying informed on current events (29%). Adolescents reported that social media had somewhat positive and mildly negative impacts on their mood, with positive impact decreasing and negative impact increasing with more objective use.
Conclusions
The current study complements the wealth of studies using self-report estimates with objective data and affirms that smartphone use varies considerably among adolescents, in particular by gender and race/ethnicity. This variability highlights the need for increasingly nuanced investigations of social media use among youth.

Authors

• Elizabeth Nick, Vanderbilt University

• Ann-Christin Haag, Columbia University, Teachers College

• Benjamin W Nelson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Shedrick Lamar Garrett, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Kara Anne Fox, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  Presenting Author

• Eva H Telzer, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Mitchell J Prinstein, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill