The DOI matches its Crossref record; 51 of the 51 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
How psychosocial well-being and usage amount predict inaccuracies in retrospective estimates of digital technology use
Abstract
Using Apple’s Screen Time application to obtain reported actual iPhone and social media (SM) use, we examined the accuracy of retrospective estimates of usage, how inaccuracies bias associations between use and psychosocial well-being (depression, loneliness, and life satisfaction), and the degree to which inaccuracies were predicted by levels of well-being. Among a sample of 325 iPhone users, we found that (a) participants misestimated their weekly overall iPhone and SM use by 19.1 and 12.2 hours, respectively; (b) correlations between estimated use and well-being variables were consistently stronger than the correlations between reported actual use and well-being variables; and (c) the degree of inaccuracy in estimated use was associated with levels of participant well-being and amount of use. These findings suggest that retrospective estimates of digital technology use may be systematically biased by factors that are fundamental to the associations under investigation. We propose that retrospective estimates of digital technology use may be capturing the construct of perceived use rather than actual use, and discuss how the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of perceived use may be distinct from those of actual use. Implications of these findings are discussed in view of the ongoing debate surrounding the effects of digital technology use on well-being.
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“evidence suggests that these can be particularly ill-fitting for the purposes of gaining accurate data on people’s technology-related use [27,37,38]”
From The Conceptual and Methodological Mayhem of “Screen Time” (2020) · cites this paper as [38]
In the citing paper
“iPhone users’ estimates of daily social media use are less accurate than their reports of overall daily iPhone use [38]”
From The Conceptual and Methodological Mayhem of “Screen Time” (2020) · cites this paper as [38]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Sewall, C. J. R., Bear, T. M., Merranko, J., & Rosen, D.
- Affiliations
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Sewall, Craig J. R.
- Venue
- Mobile Media & Communication
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2020-03-31
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 379-399
- ISSN
- 2050-1579 (ISSN-L)
- 2050-1587
- OpenAlex
- W3014723656
- Cited by
- 139
- References
- 51
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 26 · 2020: 8
- FWCI
- 28.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Mobile Media & Communication (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Robert and Sally Schwartz Endowed Resource Fund
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
- Social Sciences › Communication › Digital Media and Philosophy
- Keywords
- digital technology use, actual use, psychosocial well-being, depression, loneliness, life satisfaction, social media use, measurement bias
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