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. 2017 Jul 19:6:90-95.
doi: 10.1016/j.abrep.2017.07.002. eCollection 2017 Dec.

Smartphone addiction, daily interruptions and self-reported productivity

Éilish Duke  1 , Christian Montag  2   3
Affiliations

Smartphone addiction, daily interruptions and self-reported productivity

Éilish Duke et al. Addict Behav Rep. .

Abstract

The advent of the smartphone has dramatically altered how we communicate, navigate, work and entertain ourselves. While the advantages of this new technology are clear, constant use may also bring negative consequences, such as a loss of productivity due to interruptions in work life. A link between smartphone overuse and loss of productivity has often been hypothesized, but empirical evidence on this question is scarce. The present study addressed this question by collecting self-report data from N = 262 participants, assessing private and work-related smartphone use, smartphone addiction and self-rated productivity. Our results indicate a moderate relationship between smartphone addiction and a self-reported decrease in productivity due to spending time on the smartphone during work, as well as with the number of work hours lost to smartphone use. Smartphone addiction was also related to a greater amount of leisure time spent on the smartphone and was strongly related to a negative impact of smartphone use on daily non-work related activities. These data support the idea that tendencies towards smartphone addiction and overt checking of the smartphone could result in less productivity both in the workplace and at home. Results are discussed in relation to productivity and technostress.

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Figures

Fig. 1:
Fig. 1
Mediation analysis with SAS scores as the predictor, daily interruptions (defined as the number of work hours lost to smartphone use) as the mediator, and the self-reported negative impact of smartphone use on work productivity as the dependent variable. a = path a; b = path b; c = total effect, i.e. SAS scores on productivity, mediated by daily interruptions; c’ = direct effect of SAS scores on productivity; b = unstandardized regression coefficients. ⁎⁎p < 0.01.
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