Černohorská, V, Schoetensack, C, Klegr, T, Witowska, J, Goncikowska, K, Giner-Domínguez, G, Papastamatelou, J, Chappuis, S, Boente, MF, Meteier, Q, Wittmann, M, Codina, N, Pestana, JV, Valenzuela, R, Martin-Söelch, C and Ogden, R (2025) How digital technology can steal your time. Computers in Human Behavior, 169. ISSN 0747-5632

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Abstract

Digital devices are marketed as tools to improve efficiency and save time, however their use is also often associated with time pressure, time poverty and reduced wellbeing. Precisely how and why digital technologies reduce the availability of time is largely unknown. This study sought to explore the ways in which people experience a loss of time as a result of digital technology use. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 300 people from Spain, Poland, Czechia, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Thematic analysis of the interview data revealed that digital technology use impacted the way in which time was used, monitored and evaluated. Participants associated digital technology use with a loss of time, a desire to fill all time, a propensity to forget time and, as a result, a desire to gain greater control of time. As a result, the experience of loss of time to digital technology was associated with feelings of guilt, shame and a lack of self-control. The findings suggest that a combination of structural factors, including imperfect algorithm content provision and ease of device use, and attitudinal factors, including the belief that digital time was inauthentic, unintellectual or “bad for you”, lead to the perception of time loss through digital device use. Improvements in algorithmic content generation and greater acceptance of the benefits of time on digital media may help reduce the sense that time is lost to digital technology, and the associated feelings of guilt and loss of control.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	5201 Applied and Developmental Psychology; 5204 Cognitive and Computational Psychology; 46 Information and Computing Sciences; 52 Psychology; 4608 Human-Centred Computing; Bioengineering; 0806 Information Systems; 1701 Psychology; 1702 Cognitive Sciences; Education; 4608 Human-centred computing; 5201 Applied and developmental psychology; 5204 Cognitive and computational psychology
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology T Technology > T Technology (General)
Divisions:	Psychology (from Sep 2019)
Publisher:	Elsevier
SWORD Depositor:	A Symplectic
Date Deposited:	28 Apr 2025 09:26
Last Modified:	28 Apr 2025 09:30
DOI or ID number:	10.1016/j.chb.2025.108680
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/26270

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