Consciously Connected: The Role of Mindfulness for Mobile Phone Connectedness and Stress

ABSTRACT

Many mobile phone usage behaviors and cognitions have become habitual, and many people have developed a strong connectedness to their mobile phones and the internet. Yet, habitualized mobile phone connectedness might evoke stress and counter long-term goals. Mindfulness has shown promise in counteracting destructive (mobile phone) habits. Over the course of three preregistered studies, we investigated the interrelations between mindfulness, four dimensions of mobile phone connectedness, and stress. Our results indicate that more mindful individuals check their mobile phones less automatically, perform less multitasking, have a lower mobile phone attachment, and experience less online vigilance. Self-control is an important mediator in these relationships. Further, mindful individuals experience less stress; however, mobile phone behaviors and cognitions do not mediate this relationship. Moreover, mindfulness-based stress reduction training or mediation apps seem to be powerful tools for cultivating mindfulness, as they promoted an increase in mindfulness and a decrease in the investigated dimensions of mobile phone connectedness and stress. Results are discussed regarding implications for research and practice.

Acknowledgment

These studies would not have been possible without the support of many people. We would like to explicitly thank the Department of Journalism and Communication Research at the Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media for funding the survey for Study 1, the many MBSR teachers who helped us recruit for Study 2, 7Mind for providing the plus version of the app for the three-week intervention phase of the experimental group in Study 3, and Sophie Kittmann for her support in conducting Study 3.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data Availability Statement

The data will be made available upon request by contacting the corresponding author

Open scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open Science badges for Open Data, Open Materials and Preregistered. The data and materials are openly accessible at https://osf.io/9htwm/, https://osf.io/2gt83, and https://osf.io/84kjm.

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2023.2253732.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Conversely, a digitized connection can also be interrupted by a “real-life cue,” such as a child talking to a mother in the middle of writing an instant message.

2. In contrast to this preregistration and the preregistration of Study 2, we refrained from integrating “satisfaction with life” as a dependent variable in order to reduce the complexity of analyses.

3. https://osf.io/9htwm/

4. Means and Cronbach’s Alpha values represent results from the t0-measures for both groups.

5. Due to the fact that Study 3 was a straight replication of Study 2, except for the form of the intervention, it was not additionally preregistered.