ReviewInternational journal of environmental research and public health2019
Addictive Features of Social Media/Messenger Platforms and Freemium Games against the Background of Psychological and Economic Theories.
Review in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 100 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
100 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 320 citations in OpenAlex.
- Longitudinal associations between digital media use and ADHD symptoms in children and adolescents: a systematic literature review.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- The relationship between adolescent emotion dysregulation and problematic technology use: Systematic review of the empirical literature.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2022Pooled it
- The association between the Big Five personality traits and smartphone use disorder: A meta-analysis.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2020Pooled it
- Social Networks Use Disorder and Associations With Depression and Anxiety Symptoms: A Systematic Review of Recent Research in China.Frontiers in psychology · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- A Cross-Sectional Study of Short-Video Viewing and Young Adult Health: Dose-Response Relationships with Sleep, Dream Anxiety, Ocular Surface, and Quality of Life.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Prestige, Pride, and Belief: A Hypothesized Neural Integration Framework for Status, Identity, and Modern Polarization.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- How balanced time perspective affects short-video addiction: a chain mediation model based on trait anxiety and ego depletion.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Problematic Social Media Use and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Symptoms in Adolescents.JAMA network open · 2026Article
- Influence of digital social networking platforms on mental health and social media addiction.Discover mental health · 2026Article
- Behavioral change: from neurobiology to behavioral-change theories and back - part 1.Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria · 2026Review
- Connected or chained by social media? Child and adolescent mental health in a digital era.PLoS medicine · 2026Article
- A functional approach to social media assessment: Initial psychometric evaluation of the Social Media Use Functional Assessment.Journal of applied behavior analysis · 2026Article
- Ten years of screen time among medical students in Dresden, Germany: unveiling the trends.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- A Critical Appraisal of the Links Between Video Gaming, Lifestyle Factors, Diet and Eating Behaviour: A Narrative Review.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Is Social Media Use a Blessing or Cure for Motor Function and Skill Acquisition? An Opinion Paper.eNeuro · 2026Article
- 'Brain Rot' Among University Students in the Digital Age: A Phenomenological Study.Current psychiatry reports · 2026Review
- Review
- Progressive Smartphone Restriction Combined with Psychoeducational Guidance and Pre-Sleep Autonomic Regulation Improves Sleep Efficiency and Time-of-Day Cognitive Performance in Physically Active Students with Nomophobia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Executive functioning and binge-watching behaviors in adolescents: a network analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
40 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Currently about 2.71 billion humans use a smartphone worldwide. Although smartphone technology has brought many advances, a growing number of scientists discuss potential detrimental effects due to excessive smartphone use. Of importance, the likely culprit to understand over-usage is not the smartphone itself, but the excessive use of applications installed on smartphones. As the current business model of many app-developers foresees an exchange of personal data for allowance to use an app, it is not surprising that many design elements can be found in social media apps and Freemium games prolonging app usage. It is the aim of the present work to analyze several prominent smartphone apps to carve out such elements. As a result of the analysis, a total of six different mechanisms are highlighted to illustrate the prevailing business model in smartphone app development. First, these app-elements are described and second linked to classic psychological/economic theories such as the mere-exposure effect, endowment effect, and Zeigarnik effect, but also to psychological mechanisms triggering social comparison. It is concluded that many of the here presented app-elements on smartphones are able to prolong usage time, but it is very hard to understand such an effect on the level of a single element. A systematic analysis would require insights into app data usually only being available for the app-designers, but not for independent scientists. Nevertheless, the present work supports the notion that it is time to critically reflect on the prevailing business model of 'user data in exchange for app-use allowance'. Instead of using a service in exchange for data, it ultimately might be better to ban or regulate certain design elements in apps to come up with less addictive products. Instead, users could pay a reasonable fee for an app service.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.