Digital Habit Interventions

NCT07829211 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: UP-25-00725
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 120
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Social media apps are designed to make opening and continuing to use them easy, which may contribute to habitual or unwanted use. This study will test whether adding a brief pause before opening a selected social media app can help young adults reduce the time they spend using the app. It will also examine whether the intervention improves digital well-being. Participants ages 18 to 24 who regularly use social media will be randomly assigned either to use a smartphone tool that adds a brief pause before opening a social media app they would like to use less or to continue using social media as usual for approximately two weeks. Participants will visit the laboratory before and after the two-week study period. At each visit, they will complete a survey measuring digital well-being and tasks measuring attention, memory, and self-control. They will also use their smartphones while their brain activity is measured using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a noninvasive method that uses light sensors worn on the head. During the two-week period, participants will complete brief daily smartphone surveys, and study applications will collect information about their screen time and app use. Researchers will compare the two groups to determine whether the brief pause reduces time spent using the selected social media app and improves digital well-being. Behavioral and neural measures will be examined on an exploratory basis to better understand how participants respond to the intervention.

Conditions

Social Media; Digital Well-being

Keywords

Social Media; Smartphone; Digital Habits; fNIRS

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change in Average Daily Time Spent Using the Target Social Media Application

  Average daily duration of use of the participant's self-selected target social media application will be measured in minutes per day using system-level smartphone-use data. Baseline use will be calculated as the mean daily duration across the 14 calendar days immediately preceding the intervention, including days with no use. Follow-up use will be calculated as the mean daily duration across the 14-day intervention period. Change will be calculated as follow-up minus baseline; negative values indicate a reduction in app use.

  The 14 days immediately preceding the intervention through the end of the 14-day intervention period.

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Change in Digital Well-Being Scale Scores

  Baseline and post-intervention, approximately 14 days after baseline

Study Arms (2)

Friction-Based Smartphone Intervention

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will install the one sec application and select a target social media application they wish to use less. When attempting to open the target application, participants will encounter an approximately five-second delay, estimate how long they intend to use the application, and receive a prompt asking whether they wish to continue to the target application. The intervention will remain active for approximately two weeks.

Behavioral: Friction-Based Smartphone Intervention

Control

NO INTERVENTION

Participants will continue using their social media applications as usual for approximately two weeks without the friction-based intervention. They will complete the same baseline, daily, and post-intervention assessments as participants assigned to the experimental arm.

Interventions

Friction-Based Smartphone Intervention BEHAVIORAL

Participants assigned to the intervention will install the one sec application and select a target social media application they wish to use less. When attempting to open the target application, participants will encounter an approximately five-second delay, estimate how long they intend to use the application, and receive a prompt asking whether they wish to continue. The intervention will remain active for approximately 14 days.

Friction-Based Smartphone Intervention

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 24 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Ages 18-24 years.
• Active user of social media.
• Native English speaker.
• Able and willing to complete two in-person fNIRS visits and approximately 14 days of smartphone-based assessments.
• Owns a smartphone

You may not qualify if:

• Not a native English speaker.
• Unable or unwilling to complete the smartphone intervention or required data collection.
• Unable to complete the fNIRS procedures

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Southern California: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California, 90089, United States

Location

Central Study Contacts

Elisa C Baek, PhD

CONTACT

213-740-2203; elisab@usc.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor of Psychology

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 14, 2026
• First Posted: September 18, 2026
• Study Start: October 1, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2027
• Last Updated: September 18, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)