Spending time in nature is associated with decreased smartphone usage, study finds

2023/06/23


New research published in Environment and Behavior explored the relationship between spending time in green spaces and smartphone use. Unlike previous studies that relied on participants’ own reports, this study used geolocation data to determine if people were in green spaces. The findings showed that those who spend more time in green spaces tend to use their smartphones less.

Using smartphones excessively has been linked to negative outcomes like shorter attention spans, impaired thinking, and reduced well-being. That’s why there’s growing interest in understanding what influences smartphone use and finding ways to develop healthier technology habits.

Research has consistently shown that being in nature has positive effects on our well-being. It can reduce stress, improve our mood, enhance our thinking, and make us feel better overall. This has led to the Attention Restoration Theory (ART), which suggests that being in nature can restore our attention after dealing with the demands of daily life, including smartphone use.

While the benefits of nature exposure and the detrimental effects of excessive smartphone use are well-documented individually, the relationship between these two phenomena remains relatively unexplored. Understanding how greenspace exposure may influence smartphone use has important implications for promoting a healthy balance between technology and nature engagement.

Previous studies have provided some insights into this relationship. For instance, research has shown that individuals who spend more time in nature tend to engage in less screen time overall, including smartphone use. Additionally, studies have found that nature exposure can reduce the desire to use smartphones and decrease the frequency of checking mobile devices. However, these studies have primarily focused on self-reported measures of nature exposure and smartphone use, which may be subject to biases and inaccuracies.

To address these limitations, Kelton Minor and colleagues aimed to provide a more objective and comprehensive examination of the relationship between greenspace exposure and smartphone use among young adults. By utilizing mobile screen activity and geolocation data, the researchers could capture real-time smartphone usage patterns and objectively measure the time spent in green spaces. This approach allowed for a more accurate assessment of the association between nature contact and smartphone activity.

To conduct this study, the research team utilized a large sample of 701 young adults in Denmark, primarily undergraduate students. The participants were given smartphones with an app that recorded their smartphone usage, location, and mobility for two years. The data was collected with the students’ consent, and they could view and delete their own data at any time.

The researchers used this data to examine the relationship between the participants’ smartphone use and their exposure to natural environments. They categorized the locations into two main contexts: greenspaces (such as parks and nature reserves) and urban environments. They used geolocation data and land cover maps to determine where the participants were located during 15-minute intervals.

Within each 15-minute interval, the researchers measured three aspects of smartphone use: screen time, texting, and phone calls. They focused on outgoing communication activities to understand how environmental exposures influenced the participants’ digital behaviors.

The study found that young adults who spent more time in green spaces used their smartphones less. This suggests that being in green spaces may protect young adults from excessive smartphone use. On the other hand, outgoing smartphone communication (such as texting and calling) increased in recreational areas like parks and urban areas for visits shorter than two hours.

“Greentime, or time outdoors, has long been recommended as a way to restore our attention from the demands of daily life, yet before our study, little was known about whether nature provides a way for people to disconnect from the mobile devices that now follow us into the great outdoors,” said lead author Kelton Minor, a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University’s Data Science Institute.

“While past research suggested that short trips to city parks might provide a digital detox, we saw texting and phone calls actually go up. It was really the longer visits to wilder areas, like forests or nature preserves, that helped people get off their screens and wrest back their attention from their smartphones.”

The researchers also found that longer visits to natural environments had larger effects on reducing smartphone usage. However, even short to moderate visits to nature were found to improve digital impulse inhibition compared to urban settings. Staying in one place within greenspaces had a greater impact on reducing smartphone screen use compared to being on the move.

The findings of this study contribute to the growing body of research on the relationship between nature exposure and smartphone use. The results suggest that spending time in green spaces may help individuals regulate their smartphone usage and reduce the potential negative effects of excessive screen time. This has important implications for promoting healthy technology habits and enhancing well-being among young adults.

It’s important to note some limitations of this study.The sample mostly consisted of undergraduate students, so we can’t say for sure if the findings apply to other populations. Future research should include more diverse participants to ensure the results hold up.

Overall, this study provides valuable insights into how being in green spaces affects smartphone use among young adults. The findings suggest that spending time in nature can help reduce excessive smartphone use and promote well-being. “Prescribing more time in natural areas within the biosphere may be a relevant intervention for young adults in need of a digital break from the cybersphere,” the researchers wrote.

The study, titled “Nature exposure is associated with reduced smartphone use,” was authored by Kelton Minor, Kristoffer Lind Glavind, Aaron J. Schwartz, Christopher M. Danforth, Sune Lehmann, and Andreas Bjerre-Nielsen.

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