Is habitual smartphone use at odds with digital disconnection? Insights from a cross-sectional survey among Belgian adults

Abstract

Digital disconnection is defined as setting deliberate limits on connectivity to enhance (digital) well-being. Yet for some people, disconnecting from their devices may be more difficult than for others. One important but understudied factor that may help explain this difference is habitual smartphone use. Drawing on cross-sectional survey data from 944 Belgian adults (50.40% female, Mage = 42.28, SDage = 13.63), we investigated how individual differences in habitual smartphone use are associated with perceived difficulty with disconnection and disconnection behavior, and how these variables relate to well-being. Structural equation modeling revealed that individuals who used their smartphones more habitually perceived greater difficulty with disconnection (β = 0.38, p < .001). Perceiving disconnection as difficult, in turn, was negatively associated with both disconnection behavior (β = −0.19, p < .001) and well-being (β = −0.22, p < .001), whereas disconnection behavior showed a small positive association with well-being (β = 0.07, p = .03). No direct association emerged between habitual smartphone use and disconnection behavior (β = −0.03, p = .48). These findings underscore the relevance of habitual smartphone use for individuals' evaluations of digital disconnection and suggest that such evaluations may be important for understanding both disconnection behavior and well-being.