@nagymusic Thanks for sharing 
This study confirms what many of us on this Forum already suspected (or knew first-hand) that our smartphones might be draining more than just battery life.
Personally, I think it’s not just about “disconnecting” but more about about reconnecting with nature, hobbies, and actual human beings.
Sounds like a compelling case for more mindful tech use!
Thanks for sharing that article, @nagymusic. I clicked through to the research paper, and these statements stood out to me:
We found that the effects of blocking mobile internet on SWB [(Subjective Well Being)] and mental health were moderated by individual differences in FoMO [(Fear of Missing Out)]. Participants who felt more FoMO at baseline experienced larger improvements in SWB and mental health during the intervention, perhaps because mobile internet itself exacerbates FoMO by frequently showing people what they are missing out on (i.e.[,] the activities their friends are posting about on social media).
– This confirms what I found in my own life. After I closed all social-media accounts, friends and relatives who knew that I had done so would tell me about news that THEY had seen on Facebook, etc., regarding people whom they and I knew. I also became a more active seeker of national and international news and commentary (instead of relying on what was posted on social media for this type of news).
Only iPhone users were eligible to participate due to compatibility with the Freedom app that we used to block mobile internet.
– This is puzzling, given that the Freedom app is available for both iPhone and Google Android. I suspect that Google Android users would yield the same results. I wonder whether the researchers are all iPhone users and therefore never investigated – or never wanted to consider – the availability of the Freedom app for Google Android, an operating system which many iPhone users disdain.
This intervention specifically targeted the feature that makes smartphones “smart” (mobile internet) while allowing participants to maintain mobile connection (through texts and calls) and nonmobile access to the internet (e.g. through desktop computers).
– This is a helpful but incomplete distinction: the feature that makes smartphones “smart” is mobile access to the Internet. Desktop computers give access to the Internet but are not mobile. What is controversial is the “access to the Internet” feature of a cellphone. Any cellphone that uses cellular data indeed has, and is using, access to the Internet. For example, my AOSP-based Sunbeam Wireless flip-phone uses cellular data for weather, for navigation with live-traffic information, and for speech-to-text conversions. But, many – if not all – of the iPhone users in this research – likely would say that it is NOT a smartphone, perhaps because they cannot add apps to it. This speaks to a popular topic in the Mudita Forum: What is a smartphone, but does this label even matter?
I can concur, I have take a 4 year break (and now PERMANENT break from smartphones) and I feel great!
Something to aspire to. I remember feeling so free and clear-headed on my ~1 year break from smartphones. It is too easy for those claws to dig back in.
Thanks so much for such thorough feedback and insights!