Established Adults, Who Self-Identify as Smartphone and/or Social Media Overusers, Struggle to Balance Smartphone Use for Personal and Work Purposes

Abstract

Smartphone ownership and use continues to proliferate, allowing people to easily access online communication, entertainment, and information. Importantly, individuals can perceive that they overuse their smartphone and/or the social media applications (apps) they access on their devices. Much of the research on smartphone overuse has focused on youth and emerging adults, with little research focusing on individuals in the established adulthood stage of life. This study examines smartphone use among established adults who perceive that they overuse their smartphone and/or social media. As part of a larger study, we conducted in-depth interviews with 21 individuals (30-45 years old) who self-identified as smartphone and/or social media overusers. Data were collected through a pre-survey, 1-hour interview, and smartphone use screenshots. Audio-recorded interviews were transcribed and then coded using NVivo software. Participants' average age was 35.9 years (SD = 4.1). The majority of the sample were female (67%), White (76%), and had a master's degree or higher (76%). Participants spent an average of 215 min on their smartphone daily, primarily using social media, video conferencing, and texting apps. Issues with smartphone use occurred when there was an unclear separation between work and personal use. Participants felt pressure to always respond quickly to work emails. An effort was made to limit smartphone use for work and during family time to be present for their family. Established adults strive to balance smartphone use for personal and work purposes. Creating boundaries for how and when established adults use their smartphone may help them find this balance.

Fear of Missing Out on Workplace: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Selected studies were published between 2015 and 2023 with one study published in 2019 (Budnick et al, 2019), in 2020 there will be ine research (Kumar & Lalatendu, 2020), in 2021 there were two researchs (Labban & Bizzi, 2021;, in 2022 there were two researchs (Gartner et al, 2022;Tandon et al, 2022), and in 2023 there were one research (Schuster et al, 2023). The research articles used are from United States (Budnick et al, 2019;Labban & Bizzi, 2021;Schuster et al, 2023;Tandon et al, , 2022, India (Kumar & Lalatendu, 2020), and Austria (Gartner et al, 2022).…”

“…The data obtained in each research is the workers (Budnick et al, 2019), media professionals (Kumar & Lalatendu, 2020), working professionals , employees (Labban & Bizzi, 2021;Tandon et al, 2022), SMEs (Gartner et al, 2022), and adult social media overusers (Schuster et al, 2023). A complete overview of the characteristics of the study is presented in Table 1.…”

“…Based on experience, senior workers are better able to manage their time accessing media than junior workers (Kumar & Lalatendu, 2020). In contrast to Kumar's results, Schuster's research says that established adults are caught in a career and parenting crisis when trying to balance relationships with social ties, especially family, and their workplace, by using their cell phones at least several times a day (Schuster et al, 2023). The inability to completely disconnect from the phone during work hours.…”

“…Research in 2023 is also in line with research in previous years. The research was conducted on working adults (Schuster et al, 2023). The results showed that they felt pressured to always respond to work emails quickly.…”

Toward a New Theory of Established Adulthood

“…Even when established adults find solitary time, the ubiquity of smartphones may make it difficult to find a calm, undisturbed moment. Schuster et al (2023) investigated smartphone use among established adults who self-identified as smartphone "over users." These established adults averaged of 215 min of smartphone use daily and primarily used their phones for social media, video conferencing, and texting.…”