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Digital detox: Do you own your smartphone or does your smartphone own you? : Experimental study into the effectiveness of digital nudges in reducing smartphone use

Klein Gebbinck, Josien (2022) Digital detox: Do you own your smartphone or does your smartphone own you? : Experimental study into the effectiveness of digital nudges in reducing smartphone use.

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Abstract:Aim: This study will investigate how different digital nudges can be used best within digital detox apps to encourage people to reduce their smartphone use. Multiple digital detox apps have been developed and marketed to support users in reducing their smartphone usage by means of digital nudges. However, a lack of evidence exists on the effectiveness of those apps. This study brings knowledge about the effectiveness of digital detox apps, especially the effectiveness of digital nudges used within those apps. On the one hand, the results of this study contribute to app developments in the digital detox context, it gives useful insights to optimize the effectiveness of digital detox apps. On the other hand, this study contributes to the existing literature about digital nudging and adds new and interesting information about how to apply digital nudges within the context of digital detox. Method: A between subjects 2 (gain frame vs. loss frame) x 2 (high engagement vs. low engagement) x 2 (with emoji vs. without emoji) experimental design with a moderator smartphone use was implemented to examine the effect on attitude towards smartphone use, perceived app effectiveness and intention to reduce smartphone use, whether or not influenced by smartphone use. The experiment was executed by means on an online experiment in the Qualtrics survey program. The use of three different manipulations: gain/loss framing, level of engagement and the use of emoji resulted into eight different conditions. The experimental conditions included a screenshot of a digital detox app. An independent measures design was used which assigned the participants to one of the eight conditions. A total of 251 respondents participated in the experiment. The majority of the respondents were female (72.5%). The mean age of the respondents was 22.58 with a minimum of 18 years and maximum of 35 years. Results: The findings show that type of framing, the level of engagement and the use of emoji are not of direct influence on attitude towards smartphone use, perceived app effectiveness and intention to reduce smartphone use. However, smartphone use has a direct effect on the intention to reduce smartphone use. People with high smartphone use have a high intention to reduce their smartphone use. Furthermore, the results of the subgroup analysis showed a significant interaction effect for female users between type of framing and the use of emoji on attitude towards smartphone use. For this subgroup, the combination of a loss frame with the absence of an emoji is most effective on attitude. Also, for the age group of 18 to 22, a significant main effect was found for the level of engagement on the intention to reduce smartphone use. A low level of engagement has the strongest effect on intention to reduce smartphone use. Lastly, for the low education group, an interaction effect was found of framing and level of engagement on the attitude towards smartphone use: when the level of engagement is high, a combination with a gain frame is most effective on attitude. A low level of engagement is most effective in combination with a loss frame. Conclusion: With this study it can be concluded that in order to stimulate users to reduce their smartphone use by means of digital nudges within digital detox apps, it is of importance that the smartphone app and its nudges are personalized and customized to the users’ characteristics, motives and preferences. It is important that a digital detox app recognizes the characteristics and needs of the user and that the application is set up based on this information. A simple app design which is the same for each user and applies the same nudges for everyone will most likely not work. The findings of this study contribute in reducing the lack of evidence about the effectiveness of the characteristics within the design of digital detox apps and give useful insights for people in the field of communication and app development.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:05 communication studies
Programme:Communication Studies MSc (60713)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/89530
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