ArticlePloS one2020
Likes and impulsivity: Investigating the relationship between actual smartphone use and delay discounting.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- The Relationship Between Physical Activity and Mobile Phone Addiction Among Adolescents: A Cross-Lagged Study.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Digital game addiction, mindfulness, and phubbing among adolescents: a cross-sectional design.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- An effort recalibration framework for digital media use and cognition.Nature human behaviour · 2026Review
- Unfiltered Access, Unseen Harms: A Developmental and Public Health Critique of Digital Rights Discourse.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Review
- Temporal distortion may mediate the association between problematic mobile gaming and delay discounting: An experimental study.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2025Article
- App-Based Ecological Momentary Assessment of Problematic Smartphone Use During Examination Weeks in University Students: 6-Week Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Observational
- Atypical reward anticipation in impulsive individuals: evidence from EEG and experiential delay discounting.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- The mediating effect of attentional impulsivity between mindfulness and problematic smartphone use.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- Longitudinal and daily associations between adolescent self-control and digital technology use.Developmental psychology · 2023Article
- Job satisfaction has differential associations with delay discounting and risk-taking.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- The relationships between social media exposure, food craving, cognitive impulsivity and cognitive restraint.Journal of eating disorders · 2022Article
- The Role of Motivation Systems, Anxiety, and Low Self-Control in Smartphone Addiction among Smartphone-Based Social Networking Service (SNS) Users.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Delay Discounting of Monetary and Social Media Rewards: Magnitude and Trait Effects.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Does global positioning system-based navigation dependency make your sense of direction poor? A psychological assessment and eye-tracking study.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Delay Discounting in Established and Proposed Behavioral Addictions: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2021Review
- Addictive use of digital devices in young children: Associations with delay discounting, self-control and academic performance.PloS one · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The omnipresence of smartphones among adolescents and adults gives rise to the questions about excessive use and personality factors which are associated with heavier engagement with these devices. Previous studies have found behavioral similarities between smartphone use and maladaptive behaviors (e.g. drinking, gambling, drug abuse) in the context of intertemporal choice but mostly relied on participants' self-reports regarding engagement with their phone. In this study, we collected actual usage data by smartphone application from 101 participants and assessed their tendency to discount future rewards, their reward responsiveness, self-control and consideration of future consequences. We found that smartphone screen time was correlated with choosing smaller immediate over larger delayed rewards and that usage of social media and gaming apps predicted delay discounting. Additionally, smartphone use was negatively correlated with self-control but not correlated with consideration of future consequences. Neither psychological variable could mediate the relationship between smartphone usage and delay discounting. Our findings provide further evidence that smartphone use and impulsive decision-making go hand in hand and that engagement with these devices needs to be critically examined by researchers to guide prudent behavior.
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.