Research library

What the science actually says about phones and brains

Screen time is a crowded topic, full of panic and dismissal in equal measure. This library sticks to peer-reviewed studies, says how big each one was, and links the source. Where the evidence is thin, it says so.

Screen time and your brain

Attention, memory, sleep, mood and children's development: the strongest findings, with sample sizes.

Doomscrolling

Why bad news is so hard to stop reading, what it does to anxiety and sleep, and how to build a stopping point.

Brain rot

Oxford's word of 2024. What short-form video does to attention, what it doesn't do, and what helps.

The behavioural research behind Offly's design

Offly's rules, waits and wording come from a handful of well-replicated findings. Each is listed with where it shows up in the app.

FindingSourceWhere it lives in Offly
A short pause before opening an app cut opens by 36% and attempts by 37% over six weeks (280 users).Grüning, Riedel & Lorenz-Spreen, PNAS, 2023 9The 60–90 second ring before "Open anyway"
Greyscale phones cut daily screen time by about 38 minutes in a week-long randomised trial (161 students).Holte & Ferraro, The Social Science Journal, 2020 8Grey screen, per app or after a set hour
Restrictions imposed on us fuel the desire to do the restricted thing (reactance).Brehm, 1966 17Every block reads "Blocked by you"
Behaviour change lasts when the motivation is your own, not pressed on you.Deci & Ryan, self-determination theory 18Every screen keeps a real exit
People restart goals more readily at temporal landmarks: Mondays, new months, birthdays.Dai, Milkman & Riis, Management Science, 2014 19Fresh start every Monday
"If X, then I'll do Y" plans roughly double follow-through on intentions.Gollwitzer, American Psychologist, 1999 20The "instead, do…" chips on the block screen
Limiting social media to about 30 minutes a day reduced loneliness and depression over three weeks (143 students).Hunt et al., Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 2018 4Daily limit presets

All sources

  1. Ward, A. F., Duke, K., Gneezy, A., & Bos, M. W. (2017). Brain drain: the mere presence of one's own smartphone reduces available cognitive capacity. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2(2), 140–154. journals.uchicago.edu
  2. Carter, B., Rees, P., Hale, L., Bhattacharjee, D., & Paradkar, M. S. (2016). Association between portable screen-based media device access or use and sleep outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Pediatrics, 170(12), 1202–1208. jamanetwork.com
  3. Brailovskaia, J., et al. (2022). Experimental longitudinal evidence for causal role of social media use and physical activity in COVID-19 burden and mental health. Journal of Public Health. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  4. Hunt, M. G., Marx, R., Lipson, C., & Young, J. (2018). No more FOMO: limiting social media decreases loneliness and depression. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 37(10), 751–768. guilfordjournals.com
  5. Hutton, J. S., Dudley, J., Horowitz-Kraus, T., DeWitt, T., & Holland, S. K. (2020). Associations between screen-based media use and brain white matter integrity in preschool-aged children. JAMA Pediatrics, 174(1). jamanetwork.com
  6. Twenge, J. M., & Campbell, W. K. (2018). Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being among children and adolescents: evidence from a population-based study. Preventive Medicine Reports, 12, 271–283. sciencedirect.com
  7. Sohn, S. Y., Rees, P., Wildridge, B., Kalk, N. J., & Carter, B. (2019). Prevalence of problematic smartphone usage and associated mental health outcomes amongst children and young people: a systematic review, meta-analysis and GRADE of the evidence. BMC Psychiatry, 19, 356. springer.com
  8. Holte, A. J., & Ferraro, F. R. (2020). True colors: grayscale setting reduces screen time in college students. The Social Science Journal, 60(2). tandfonline.com
  9. Grüning, D. J., Riedel, F., & Lorenz-Spreen, P. (2023). Directing smartphone use through the self-nudge app one sec. PNAS, 120(8). pnas.org
  10. Sharma, B., Lee, S. S., & Johnson, B. K. (2022). The dark at the end of the tunnel: doomscrolling on social media newsfeeds. Technology, Mind, and Behavior, 3(1). psycnet.apa.org
  11. Price, M., et al. (2022). Doomscrolling during COVID-19: the negative association between daily social and traditional media consumption and mental health symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  12. Oxford University Press (2024). 'Brain rot' named Oxford Word of the Year 2024. corp.oup.com
  13. Mark, G. (2023). Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity. Hanover Square Press. Summary of the screen-attention measurements: apa.org
  14. Chang, A.-M., Aeschbach, D., Duffy, J. F., & Czeisler, C. A. (2015). Evening use of light-emitting eReaders negatively affects sleep, circadian timing, and next-morning alertness. PNAS, 112(4), 1232–1237. pnas.org
  15. Firth, J., et al. (2019). The "online brain": how the Internet may be changing our cognition. World Psychiatry, 18(2), 119–129. wiley.com
  16. Uncapher, M. R., & Wagner, A. D. (2018). Minds and brains of media multitaskers: current findings and future directions. PNAS, 115(40), 9889–9896. pnas.org
  17. Brehm, J. W. (1966). A Theory of Psychological Reactance. Academic Press.
  18. Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. American Psychologist, 55(1), 68–78.
  19. Dai, H., Milkman, K. L., & Riis, J. (2014). The fresh start effect: temporal landmarks motivate aspirational behavior. Management Science, 60(10), 2563–2582.
  20. Gollwitzer, P. M. (1999). Implementation intentions: strong effects of simple plans. American Psychologist, 54(7), 493–503.
  21. Dwyer, R. J., Kushlev, K., & Dunn, E. W. (2018). Smartphone use undermines enjoyment of face-to-face social interactions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 78, 233–239.
  22. Small, G. W., et al. (2020). Brain health consequences of digital technology use. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 22(2), 179–187. tandfonline.com

Offly is not a medical product and this library is not medical advice. If your phone use is causing distress, talk to a doctor or a counsellor.