They paid people to put their phones down

You're receiving this because you joined the RISE Network through the free RISE Reading Tracker.

Every week: one study on what screen time does to your brain, and what to do about it.

This might be the most insane screen time study I've read.

Economists from Stanford, NYU and Microsoft Research recruited almost 2,000 American adults.

Everyone installed an app that tracked every 5 seconds of their phone use.

They focused on six apps: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, YouTube and the web browser.

At the start, people were spending about 2.5 hours a day on just those six.

Then the researchers did something wild.

They paid people to stop.

$50 for every hour a day they cut. Up to $150.

For 3 weeks.

Free money. For doing less of something most of them already said they did too much.

Here's what happened.

They cut 56 minutes a day.

That's it.

Even with cash on the line, they were still spending over an hour and a half a day on those six apps.

Then the money stopped.

Three weeks later, they were only cutting 19 minutes a day.

Three weeks after that? 12.

The addiction was crawling straight back.

These people wanted to stop.

When they were offered daily limits that locked them out of their apps, 78% set them up. No reward for doing it.

They knew they had a problem.

And they still underestimated how much they'd use their phones. Every single time.

Even right after being shown their own numbers.

The researchers' model estimates that 31% of social media use comes down to self-control problems.

Almost a third of your scrolling is time you wouldn't choose if you were actually in control.

You're not lazy. You're not weak.

You're up against apps built by some of the smartest engineers on the planet, with algorithms designed to hold your attention for as long as possible.

Paying people didn't fix it.

Trying harder won't either.

The researchers ended with a question: if so many people want to cut back, why do so few use blocking tools?

One answer they gave: the tools are too easy to get around.

That's the problem I'm fighting. It's my mission.

RISE Pro locks distractions out at the device level. No snooze button. No deleting it in a weak moment. No workaround.

The iOS launch is expected within the next week.

Hit reply and tell me: if you could lock one app away for good, which one would it be?

I read every reply.

See you next week.

— Chris

The study: Allcott H, Gentzkow M, Song L. Digital Addiction. American Economic Review. 2022;112(7):2424-2463. doi.org/10.1257/aer.20210867