"Nobody actually leaves the house without a smartphone anymore"

Psychologist Theda Radtke advocates a conscious approach to mobile phones

"You can see it very clearly in restaurants," says psychologist Theda Radtke, "that people often use their mobile phones instead of talking to the person in front of them." This situation is just one example of many and shows the influence that smartphones now have on our lives, as we use them all the time. According to a 2020 study, 85 per cent use it at work. But what is more remarkable is the use at times when the device should actually be taking a break. For example, 55 per cent use it at home while eating, 30 per cent while driving and even 29 per cent when crossing the road. This begs the question: at what point does smartphone use become a serious problem?

Theda Radtke heads the Chair of Health Psychology and Applied Diagnostics at the University of Wuppertal. One of her main areas of research is smartphone use. She also says: "We always have our mobile phones with us and they influence our everyday lives in all areas". This in turn has both positive and negative effects.

The phenomenon of phubbing

In the case of smartphones, there is the phenomenon of 'phubbing', which Radtke explains as follows: "The term is made up of the words 'phone' from smartphone and 'snubbing', which describes the feeling of annoyance when you feel offended because someone is using their phone in social interactions. So if I'm talking to someone and then suddenly pick up my smartphone, I stop paying attention to the person I'm talking to." This often leads to people feeling excluded, it releases negative emotions and this in turn can have a negative impact on relationships. Many people perceive it as a form of rudeness and this makes the topic very topical.

Effects on romantic relationships

In a study, Radtke took a close look at the smartphone and its effects on romantic relationships. So can our mobile phones lead to the breakup of a relationship? "I wouldn't put it that way," the scientist explains, "because that would mean that mobile phones only have negative effects." Many people have got to know each other via their smartphones and dating apps are very popular. "You can also use them to manage a lot of things in relationships," continues Radtke. "You can coordinate things quickly and you feel close if you're in a long-distance relationship." Even within the family, people are communicating more, as research shows, and people are closer to each other using messenger services, even if they live further away. The smartphone therefore also has potential for positive aspects.
On the other hand, however, there are also couples who report that smartphones interfere with their relationship. "One example would be the situation at the dinner table. You actually want to eat and your partner picks up their smartphone. What's interesting," explains the psychologist, "is that women are more likely to feel disturbed than men, although it's actually the women who do it more often. In addition, there are tendencies that show that the partner then tends to imitate this. Therefore, the man simply imitates it. And if this becomes a conflict, it can lead to couples feeling less close, less sexually satisfied, less intimacy."

People feel like they are missing something

Many people consider it difficult to put their smartphone down because they are afraid of missing something. Experts call this phenomenon 'fear of missing out', or FOMO for short, and describes the fear that we will miss information, events, experiences, or decisions that could improve our lives if we don't keep ourselves constantly informed. This is especially true for younger people. The expert advises having fixed times when you use your smartphone to avoid a conflict in this case.

Study offers help for self-help

For her study, Radtke selected couples where the smartphone causes some kind of conflict and explains: "Of these couples, only one partner was allowed to participate at a time. We then conducted a randomised study (in the context of studies, randomisation is a procedure by which participants are randomly assigned to a group - control group or experimental group. Editor's note), in which there were two settings. In one setting, we gave the people help on how to use their smartphone better in social interactions. And they had to draw up plans for this." The experts used a strategy in psychology called implementation intentions (strategy for self-regulation). "This involves writing down specifically when, where and how you put your phone down when you are with your partner. For example, if you spend the evening together, you put your smartphone in another room and mute it, or don't use it again until the following day." While it may be okay for many people to use it on a train journey, it can be handled differently in the private sphere. To do this, however, you first have to identify very specific situations in which the device is a nuisance in order to develop individualised strategies that can reduce this conflict. "We then followed these people for a few weeks and then looked to see if anything had improved. And it seems to have had this effect, allowing more closeness to develop again." It turned out that when the smartphone was no longer nearby, there was no longer this temptation. "Every message is often marked by a sound, so you might want to react immediately and sink back into the messages, even though you might not have wanted to."

The magic word is awareness

An important prerequisite for changing behaviour is the conscious use of the smartphone. "We first used psychoeducation (psychoeducation means guiding people to acquire knowledge, editor's note) and told people about the consequences of using their phone in the presence of others. These consequences may not apply to every person, but there are also findings that show that some people really suffer from this behaviour and it can even lead to depressive symptoms." Customised plans made it possible to see exactly where people placed the phone. "Some people don't always necessarily put the phone in another room, they put it in a basket, put it on silent or they don't take it with them when they go for a walk outside. The most important thing is that you first become aware of how you use your mobile phone," says Radtke. However, from a psychological point of view, it is not enough to become aware of the problem and have an intention to do something different; you also have to translate this intention into behaviour. For that reason, you need these very specific plans, which participants should also carry with them so that they are constantly in front of their eyes. Even if you suddenly need your mobile phone urgently, these self-regulation strategies can help you to return to your original plan afterwards.

Use can be addictive

However, smartphone use cannot only be problematic in relationships. In teaching, at both schools and universities, it can stand in the way of successful learning. Radtke is also involved in a project entitled STUDY Smart, which is investigating smartphone time-outs and their effect on learning behaviour and well-being. So what does healthy smartphone use look like from a scientific perspective? This is still an open question, Radtke answers, as it often goes hand in hand with the amount of time spent using it, which is healthy or unhealthy. However, this can only be answered individually. "If we realise that we can no longer put the smartphone aside, that would be a typical addiction indicator. Even if I can no longer manage to leave the house without my smartphone, or I feel alone when I don't have my mobile phone with me, then I should be careful and try to reduce the use of it and consider in which situations I use it more than I actually intended to." In everyday life, this could mean that the smartphone distracts me from work, takes up all my attention that I could otherwise perhaps give to my children or my partner or I lose myself in digital games." Studies demonstrated that smartphone use is significantly higher at weekends than on weekdays.
In order to reduce usage, you could either try to put your mobile phone aside wilfully, perhaps reduce the number of apps you have on the phone or simply mute apps you use with chat groups. "Then, after a certain amount of time, you realise that you might not be missing out on anything after all, because some things aren't relevant," says Radtke in conclusion, because "there is no one solution for everyone. Just like nutrition and physical activity go hand in hand, you always have to be careful not to do too much or too little, otherwise it becomes unhealthy."

Uwe Blass

Prof Dr Theda Radtke is Professor of Health Psychology and Applied Diagnostics at the University of Wuppertal.