Are you feeling crabby or stressed? Or are you not keeping up with your responsibilities at work, school or in your relationships? The reason could be that you’re spending too much time online, according to research published Wednesday in the journal PLOS One.
People who use the internet problematically are more stressed, have worse moods and are more likely to neglect other parts of their lives, according to the study of 900 German adults. Problematic internet use is when people use apps excessively, causing distress or impairment.
“Stress and a negative mood leads to a higher temptation” to use the internet, said Andreas Oelker, a doctoral student at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Essen, Germany, and lead author of the study. Using the internet problematically could then make things worse.
The ongoing research sheds light on a problem that isn’t classified as a disorder but possibly should be, said Silke Müller, a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Duisburg-Essen and coauthor of the study. One limitation of the study is it only tracked adults, so we don’t know if the same thing happens to kids, Müller said.
We know what makes us happy
The findings make sense because we know spending too much time on screens makes people unhappy, for many reasons.
When we’re scrolling, we’re often not moving our bodies, which is essential for our health and happiness. Looking at screens up close for long periods is also very stimulating, which may leave us exhausted. On screens, we often switch between many different tasks — such as responding to multiple text chains and emails while scrolling social media — and that is also exhausting.
We also know people are less nice to one another online than they are face to face. People don’t have to own up to their behavior, which can lead to online interactions that make us stressed. And people often feel less than after comparing their lives with the curated, filtered images other people post on social media.
What’s more, friendships are essential for our health and well-being, but they tend to be best cultivated in person, not online.
What are your triggers?
The results suggest problematic internet use is similar to eating disorders, addiction and obsessive-compulsive disorder, Parin Kamdar, a Princeton, New Jersey-based licensed clinical psychologist, said in an email.
That makes the problem difficult to treat because “these urges often function at a subconscious, habitual level,” so you may already be scrolling the internet before you’re even aware of what’s happening, Kamdar said.
It helps to try to recognize your triggers, she said. Do you turn to your screen after a stressful interaction with your boss or partner? When you’re exhausted or overwhelmed?
“Once a person can reliably identify the presence of the urge, they are in a much stronger position to confront the temptation,” Kamdar said.
When you’re tempted, try this instead
When you feel the temptation to go online to cope, try to wait five minutes before doing so, Kamdar said. During that time, try exercising, listening to music or relaxing. Then, add another five minutes to your waiting period each time you’re tempted, she said.
Another thing I’ve found really helps is planning blocks of screen-free time. This summer, my husband and I are taking our kids to “family summer camp,” a week at a camp in rural Minnesota where we’ll go out on a lake, ride horses and do other activities together that aren’t conducive to scrolling simultaneously.
You don’t need a budget to do something like this in shorter stints. Try disconnecting your router on a weekend afternoon and play board games with your family.
I always feel happier when I do these kinds of things. When I talk to parents, students and educators about how to manage their screen time, those who say they’ve overcome the temptation to be on their screens incessantly also tell me they’re happier. They’re more present in their surroundings. And they have more time for the things that make people truly happy: getting outdoors, moving their bodies, connecting with family and friends face to face and helping other people.
“Although the urge may never disappear entirely, its intensity and influence diminish,” Kamdar said. “Rather than dominating attention and dictating behavior, it becomes just another thought that can be acknowledged and allowed to pass.”
Therapy can help with this process, Kamdar said.
Some people turn to the internet to cope with stress and negative feelings, but that could only make things worse. It’s better to find healthier ways to cope. Unplugging could allow you to plug in more to the things that make us truly happy.
Editor’s note: Kara Alaimo is a professor of communication at Fairleigh Dickinson University and advises parents, students and teachers on how to manage screen time. Her book “Over the Influence: Why Social Media Is Toxic for Women and Girls — And How We Can Take It Back” was published in 2024.
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