Digital Habit Interventions
Trial statusNot yet recruiting
Trial phaseNot applicable
Trial typeInterventional
Biological sexAll
Age18-24
SponsorUniversity of Southern California
About this trial
Social media apps are designed to make opening and continuing to use them easy, which may contribute to habitual or unwanted use. This study will test whether adding a brief pause before opening a selected social media app can help young adults reduce the time they spend using the app. It will also examine whether the intervention improves digital well-being. Participants ages 18 to 24 who regularly use social media will be randomly assigned either to use a smartphone tool that adds a brief pause before opening a social media app they would like to use less or to continue using social media as usual for approximately two weeks.
Participants will visit the laboratory before and after the two-week study period. At each visit, they will complete a survey measuring digital well-being and tasks measuring attention, memory, and self-control. They will also use their smartphones while their brain activity is measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a noninvasive method that uses light sensors worn on the head. During the two-week period, participants will complete brief daily smartphone surveys, and study applications will collect information about their screen time and app use. Researchers will compare the two groups to determine whether the brief pause reduces time spent using the selected social media app and improves digital well-being. Behavioral and neural measures will be examined on an exploratory basis to better understand how participants respond to the intervention.
Eligibility criteria
This trial accepts healthy volunteersQualifiers
Ages 18-24 years.
Active user of social media.
Native English speaker.
Able and willing to complete two in-person fNIRS visits and approximately 14 days of smartphone-based assessments.
Disqualifiers
Not a native English speaker.
Unable or unwilling to complete the smartphone intervention or required data collection.
Unable to complete the fNIRS procedures
Trial design
Design model
Parallel
Treatments tested in this trial
Friction-Based Smartphone Intervention
BehavioralParticipants assigned to the intervention will install the one sec application and select a target social media application they wish to use less. When attempting to open the target application, participants will encounter an approximately five-second delay, estimate how long they intend to use the application, and receive a prompt asking whether they wish to continue. The intervention will remain active for approximately 14 days.
Treatment groups
120 Participants
are divided into 2 treatment groupsGroup A: Friction-Based Smartphone InterventionExperimental treatment 1 intervention
Group B: ControlNo intervention 0 interventions
Trial outcomes
Primary outcomes
1
Change in Average Daily Time Spent Using the Target Social Media Application
Average daily duration of use of the participant's self-selected target social media application will be measured in minutes per day using system-level smartphone-use data. Baseline use will be calculated as the mean daily duration across the 14 calendar days immediately preceding the intervention, including days with no use. Follow-up use will be calculated as the mean daily duration across the 14-day intervention period. Change will be calculated as follow-up minus baseline; negative values indicate a reduction in app use.
Time frame
The 14 days immediately preceding the intervention through the end of the 14-day intervention period.Secondary outcomes
1
Change in Digital Well-Being Scale Scores
Digital well-being will be assessed using the 12-item Digital Well-being Scale developed by Vanden Abeele and colleagues. The scale measures two dimensions of smartphone-related digital well-being: perceived benefits and perceived drawbacks. The perceived-benefits score is calculated as the mean of six items assessing hedonic and eudaimonic benefits. The perceived-drawbacks score is calculated as the mean of six items assessing loss of control, distraction, stress, conflict, and functional impairment. Items are rated from 1 ("almost never") to 5 ("almost always"), producing dimension scores ranging from 1 to 5. Higher benefits scores indicate greater perceived benefits of smartphone use, whereas higher drawbacks scores indicate greater perceived drawbacks. Change in each dimension will be calculated by comparing post-intervention scores with baseline scores. Improvement is reflected by increased perceived benefits and/or decreased perceived drawbacks.
Time frame
Baseline and post-intervention, approximately 14 days after baselineSponsors and contacts
Click on the lead sponsor to view all of their trials.
Source ClinicalTrials.gov
This trial is not recruiting at the moment. You can still explore other options: