Alone with My Phone: Exploring Links Between Solitude, Technology Use, and Socio-Emotional Functioning in Adolescents

Abstract

Technology use is ubiquitous in contemporary adolescent culture. Researchers studying social interactive technologies (e.g., smartphone) have begun to compare types of technology use (e.g., active versus passive). The increased access to technology is now changing how developmental contexts (e.g., solitude) are experienced. The aim of this study was to investigate how types of technology use while in solitude, might impact upon adolescents' perceptions of aloneness and feelings. Participants consisted of N = 434 grade 11 students from high schools in Ottawa. Based on self-report measures, results showed that within the context of solitude, adolescents believed they would feel more lonely, bored, and sad in the passive scenario compared to the active scenario. However, adolescents reported feeling the most content and socially connected in the audiovisual scenario. In addition, time spent alone was related to lower positive affect and greater loneliness, whereas active technology use was positively associated with negative affect.

The Goldilocks Hypothesis: Exploring Links Between Shyness, Computer-Mediated Communication, and Socio-Emotional Functioning in Adolescents

“…To assess technology use participants were asked to indicate, on average, how much time per day they spent using different forms of technology (see Appendix F). This measure was validated by Watanabe (2019) and modelled after a previous technology scale by Perkins (2014). The development of this scale drew upon the extant literature on active and passive technology use (Burke et al, 2011;Burke et al, 2010;Verduyn et al, 2015).…”

“…Technology use was rated on a 6-point scale, (1 = "Less than 15 minutes" to 6 = "8 hours and up"). Psychometric properties and factor structure of this measure are described by Watanabe (2019).…”

“…This subscale includes 12 items (e.g., "I feel excluded by my classmates") rated on a 4-point scale from (1 = "Never" to 4 = "Often") with higher scores indicating more loneliness. The subscale has been shown to have high internal consistency (α = .87) (Marcoen et al, 1987) and excellent reliability (α = .91; Watanabe, 2019).…”