When do smartphones displace face-to-face interactions and what to do about it?

There is a public concern that smartphone communication undermines well-being by displacing face-to-face interactions. However, research on this “social displacement hypothesis” has provided mixed results. We examined when this hypothesis holds true (within-persons vs. between-persons) and tested an intervention to decrease smartphone communication. Participants (N = 109) reported daily on smartphone communication, face-to-face communication, and emotional well-being for fifteen days. At day six, participants were assigned to a mindfulness-treatment intervention group or a no-treatment control group. The social displacement hypothesis was confirmed at the within-person but not between-person level. Specifically, when someone communicates a lot using her smartphone during a particular day, that person engages in less face-to-face interactions during that same day. However, people who tend to spend a lot of time communicating on their smartphone do not engage in less face-to-face conversations than people who largely refrain from smartphone communication. The mindfulness-intervention reduced daily smartphone communication, which decreased negative emotions.

公众普遍担忧，智能手机社交会通过取代面对面互动，损害个体的主观幸福感。然而，针对这一社会置换假说（social displacement hypothesis）的相关研究却得出了不一致的结论。本研究旨在探究该假说成立的边界条件（个体内层面与个体间层面），并验证一项旨在减少智能手机社交的干预措施的效果。109名被试在为期15天的研究周期内，每日报告自身的智能手机社交、面对面社交情况与情绪幸福感。在实验第6天时，被试被随机分配至正念干预组与无干预对照组。研究结果证实，社会置换假说仅在个体内层面成立，而在个体间层面不成立。具体而言，当个体在单日内花费大量时间进行智能手机社交时，其当日的面对面互动时长会相应减少；但从个体间差异来看，相较于几乎不使用智能手机进行社交的个体，长期高频使用智能手机社交的个体，其面对面互动时长并未显著减少。正念干预可有效降低个体每日的智能手机社交时长，进而减少其负面情绪体验。