Fortune Well September 23, 2024
Lifestyle
Even if you love your job, there may be times you feel dissatisfied and/or unmotivated at work. But there’s a simple solution, suggests a new study out of Germany.
Cutting back on screen time by just an hour a day may boost not only your motivation in the workplace but also your well-being, according to researchers at the German Center for Mental Health and the Mental Health Research and Treatment Center at Ruhr University Bochum. The findings were published last week in the journal Acta Psychologica.
Some employers heavily invest in their employees’ work satisfaction and motivation, two factors crucial to a company’s productivity, lead researcher Julia Brailovskaia, PhD, said in a news release. Her team’s findings, she said, offer employers a low-threshold way to improve those elements while also fostering employees’ mental health and work-life balance.
The randomized controlled trial involved nearly 300 people employed in different industries and workplaces throughout Germany. They were divided into four groups and changed their behaviors accordingly for a week:
Researchers assessed participants’ well-being before, immediately after, and two weeks after their assigned behavior changes or lack thereof. Employees in the smartphone and combination groups reported significant improvement in their mental health, work-life balance, and work satisfaction and motivation. In addition, they indicated reduced feelings of work overload and symptoms of problematic smartphone use.
All participants asked to change their behavior in some way saw reduced depressive symptoms and an enhanced sense of control.
“A conscious and controlled reduction of non-work-related screen time, in combination with more physical activity, could improve employees’ work satisfaction and mental health,” Brailovskaia said.
One of the study’s major limitations is that the participants were all white and relatively young; no group’s average age exceeded 28. Future studies are needed to see if the findings hold for a more representative sample of the international workforce, the authors noted. As this study focused on non-work-related smartphone use, additional research might explore how work-related screen time impacts mental health, they said.
If you’re looking to cut back on your own screen time but aren’t sure how to go about it, try what Alex Turvy, MEd, a researcher in Tulane University’s City + Culture + Community program studying social media and internet culture, calls an “integration over separation” tactic. You could pair digital engagement with physical activity, such as going for a walk while listening to an audiobook.
“Recognize that the dichotomy between screen time and non-screen time is becoming increasingly blurred,” Turvy previously told Fortune. “Integrating meaningful screen-free activities into daily routines rather than strictly separating the two can be helpful.”
Stay up to date on the latest real estate trends.
Buyer
August 29, 2025
You may have seen talk online that new home inventory is at its highest level since the crash.
Buyer
August 29, 2025
It’s not unusual for designers to use their own homes as a mad laboratory, fiddling with new materials, half-baked ideas, and “could this work?
Lifestyle
August 28, 2025
It just happens that one of the most accessible and budget-friendly forms of exercise is also the most beneficial for your health: walking.
Seller
August 28, 2025
Now that the market is slowing down, homeowners who haven’t sold at the price they were hoping for are increasingly pulling their homes off the market.
Buyer
August 26, 2025
Sales of new single-family houses in July were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 652,000, according to estimates released jointly today by the US Census Bureau a… Read more
Buyer
August 26, 2025
If you’re still worried about having to deal with a bidding war when you buy a home, you may be able to let some of that fear go.
We Guide Homeowners through the complicated process of selling their home using our 4 Phase Selling Process and 3 Prong Marketing Strategy that alleviates their stress and moves them effortlessly to their next destination. Schedule a 15 Minute Complimentary Strategy Session Today