Timeout from smartphone use – Impact on adult employees’ work and health-related variables

Abstract

Background: The smartphone is an important communication tool at the workplace. However, the use of the smartphone blurs the boundary between work and leisure time, because of one´s permanent reachability. The smartphone use often continues during evenings or weekends. This results in shorter recovery phases from work. However, recovery is important for employee’s health. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the effect of a timeout from smartphone use on work and health-related variables like stress, recovery, or work-home interference. Method: Participants were 95 employees with a mean age of M= 34.1 (SD= 10.8). In a randomized controlled trial the experimental group (EG) had to schedule two daily timeouts from smartphone use of at least one hour during two weeks. Findings: No difference of smartphone use was found between the control group (CG) and the EG. However, regression analysis revealed that the initial smartphone use at baseline moderated the impact of the timeout: participants of the EG with low initial usage reduced their usage time significantly. Furthermore, participants who were afraid of missing important calls/messages during the timeout showed less timeouts and perceived them as additional stress factor. No relationship of the intervention with other variables like work-home interference or recovery were found. Discussion: The findings suggest that the timeout from the smartphone can be an additional stress factor. Withdrawal symptoms can occur or the flexibility for doing work tasks related with a smartphone can be restricted. This applies particularly to employees with intensive smartphone use.