Active Nudging Towards Digital Well-being: Reducing Excessive Screen Time on Mobile Phones and Potential Improvement for Sleep Quality

Thao Hanh VuMarco Tagliabue^*

• Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo, Norway

Our society’s reliance on smartphones is a rising phenomenon. The misuse or overuse of smartphones has been linked to adverse effects on physical well-being and psychological functioning, including the quality of sleep when perpetrated before bedtime. An increasing number of digital users start becoming more consciously aware of the impact of smartphone use on their productivity and well-being. Consequently, several digital detox interventions incorporating digital nudges have been introduced to assist users in reducing their smartphone usage. Digital nudges are freedom-preserving behavior-altering mechanisms that make use of user-interface design. In this exploratory study, we examine the effectiveness of a digital nudge in the form of tracked screen time as a behavioral intervention for mitigating excessive screen time on smartphones. Secondarily, we explore the potential relationship between screen time and sleep quality. A within-group experimental design utilizing a randomized control trial with a sample of 17 participants was conducted over a seven-day period to compare the effectiveness of a tracking-only condition with an active digital nudge condition. No significant evidence was found to support the fact that active digital nudges had an impact on screen time reduction (primary outcome). There was a direct correlation between screen time reduction and improved sleep quality (secondary outcome), besides a significant effect of lower frequency sleep delay in the active nudge condition (p = .026). Nonetheless, the results of this study contribute towards our understanding of mechanisms underlying nudges and offered valuable insights on what to do to improve and optimize the effectiveness of digital nudges from a behavior-analytic perspective.