Reducing mobile phone use by one hour a day can have a major impact on well-being and how motivated people are at work.
Research released this week by the Mental Health Research and Treatment Center at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany said people were spending an average of nearly four hours a day on their phones.
“Cutting back this time by one hour a day is not only good for our mental health, but also helps us to feel happier and more motivated at work,” the study report said.
“The findings of the study are of particular interest to employers, who sometimes invest a lot of money to improve the work satisfaction and motivation of their employees.”
The study involved 278 participants and was published in the journal Acta Psychologica on September 14, 2024.
Lead researcher Julia Brailovskaia said the findings on mobile phone use could provide crucial clues to improving company productivity.
“A conscious and controlled reduction of non-work-related screen time, in combination with more physical activity, could improve employees’ work satisfaction and mental health,” Dr Brailovskaia said.
For their study, the researchers assigned participants from different professions to four groups of roughly equal size.
“The smartphone group reduced their private smartphone use by one hour a day for one week. The sport group increased their daily physical activity by 30 minutes. The combination group did both, and the control group didn’t change their routine at all,” the study report said.
“In the smartphone group and the combination group, the researchers found that work satisfaction and motivation, work-life balance and mental health had improved significantly.
“What’s more, the feeling of work overload and symptoms of problematic smartphone use were significantly reduced. All interventions led to a reduction in depressive symptoms and they increased the participants’ sense of control.”
