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Connecting alone: Smartphone use, quality of social interactions and well-being
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This paper investigates the role played by the smartphone for the quality of social interactions and subjective well-being. We argue that, due to its intrusiveness, the smartphone reduces the quality of face-to-face interactions and, as a consequence, their positive impact on well-being. We test this hypothesis in a large and representative sample of Italian individuals. The results indicate that time spent with friends is worth less, in terms of life satisfaction, for individuals who use the smartphone. This finding is robust to the use of instrumental variables estimation to deal with possible endogeneity. We also show that, consistent with our hypothesis, the positive association between time spent with friends and satisfaction with friends is less strong for individuals who use the smartphone.
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Smartphone distractions can hamper enjoyment, personal connections, and satisfaction with others.
“This theme adds credence to previous research showing that smartphone distractions can hamper enjoyment, personal connections, and satisfaction with others.19”
From An Intervention Utilizing the Salience Principle to Reduce Pharmacy Students’ Psychological Attraction to Smartphones (2022) · cites this paper as [42]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Rotondi, V., Stanca, L., & Tomasuolo, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Milano-Bicocca (IT)
- Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Stanca, Luca
- Venue
- Journal of Economic Psychology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-12
- Volume
- 63
- Pages
- 17-26
- ISSN
- 0167-4870 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2588103048
- Cited by
- 251
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 27 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 37 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 53 · 2019: 18 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 56.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Economic Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Archivio istituzionale della Ricerca - Bocconi (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- BOA (University of Milano-Bicocca) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- European Research Council (694262)
- Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (694262)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
- Social Sciences › Communication › Digital Media and Philosophy
- Keywords
- smartphone use, social interaction quality, subjective well-being, life satisfaction, face-to-face interaction
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