University of Southern California
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.
Many social media platforms minimize the effort required to open and engage with an application, which may support automatic or habitual use. Introducing friction at the moment of app access may interrupt habitual responding and provide an opportunity for more deliberate choice. This randomized, longitudinal study tests whether a friction-based smartphone intervention reduces the average daily time young adults spend using a self-selected social media application. The secondary objective is to determine whether the intervention improves digital well-being. Additional behavioral and neural meas…
Inclusion Criteria: * 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. * Owns a smartphone Exclusion Criteria: * Not a native English speaker. * Unable or unwilling to complete the smartphone intervention or required data collection. * Unable to complete the fNIRS procedures
Participants 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.