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Self control and smartphone use: An experimental study of soft commitment devices

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  • Hoong, Ruru

Abstract

Public discussion and discourse amongst researchers suggest that smartphone use is excessive from an individual welfare standpoint, but evidence for this remains limited. I implement a randomized intervention encouraging a subset of 629 participants to adopt soft commitment devices limiting phone, Facebook, and Instagram usage. I find that individuals: (i) spend more time on phones and Facebook than they predict and profess to desire; and (ii) significantly reduce use after adopting these limits. This suggests that individuals may be significantly overusing smartphones due to their limited ability to exercise self-control, and that policy-makers can look to soft commitment devices as effective tools to help individuals reduce use.

Suggested Citation

  • Hoong, Ruru, 2021. "Self control and smartphone use: An experimental study of soft commitment devices," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:140:y:2021:i:c:s0014292121002269
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2021.103924
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    Cited by:

    1. Guy Aridor & Rafael Jiménez-Durán & Ro'ee Levy & Lena Song, 2024. "The Economics of Social Media," CESifo Working Paper Series 10934, CESifo.
    2. Ankinée KIRAKOZIAN & Raphaël CHIAPPINI & Nabila ARFAOUI, 2023. "Nudging employees for greener mobility A field experiment," Bordeaux Economics Working Papers 2023-09, Bordeaux School of Economics (BSE).
    3. Paul Bettega & Paolo Crosetto & Dimitri Dubois & Rustam Romaniuc, 2023. "Hard vs. soft commitments: Experimental evidence from a sample of French gamblers ," CEE-M Working Papers hal-04193948, CEE-M, Universtiy of Montpellier, CNRS, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro.
    4. Guy Aridor & Rafael Jiménez-Durán & Ro'ee Levy & Lena Song, 2024. "Experiments on Social Media," CESifo Working Paper Series 11275, CESifo.
    5. Ek, Claes & Samahita, Margaret, 2023. "Too much commitment? An online experiment with tempting YouTube content," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 21-38.
    6. Guy Aridor, 2022. "Measuring Substitution Patterns in the Attention Economy: An Experimental Approach," CESifo Working Paper Series 10190, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Smartphones; Commitment device; Self-control; Time-inconsistency; Social media;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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