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Textual Healing: Proof of Concept Study Examining the Impact of a Mindfulness Intervention on Smartphone Behavior

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Abstract

The digital age presents particular challenges to maintaining mindfulness, which has, in turn, has been proposed as a corrective agent to various negative consequences of habitual phone use. This study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of an app-based intervention called Mindful Messaging, which was developed to increase overall mindfulness as well as mindfulness related to technology use and during text-based interactions. In a sample of 29 young adults, the use of Mindful Messaging resulted in a statistically significant increase in self-reported mindfulness and statistically significant decreases in drunk texting, texting while walking, and having accidents while walking and texting at follow-up relative to baseline. Effects of medium size were observed across outcomes (Cohen’s d ranged from 0.30 to 0.45). Non-significant reductions were also observed for emotional regulation difficulties, sexting and texting while driving, with small effect sizes. Participants’ use of an in-the-moment intervention for composing messages revealed that in comparison to pre-intervention texts, post-intervention texts conveyed increased honesty, vulnerability, self-awareness, empathy, perspective-taking, and concern about the recipient’s feelings. Feedback suggested the app was highly acceptable to users. Findings point to the potential health benefits of developing mobile interventions which induce mindfulness related to texting and other technology use.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a grant awarded to Leora Trub by the Pace University’s Provost’s Grants for the Thinkfinity Initiative for Innovative Teaching, Technology and Research. Thanks to Walter Roth and Nathaniel Wolfe of InwardInc.com for their tireless efforts in creating the mobile behavioral change platform for Mindful Messaging. They brought their innovative approach to translating evidence based principles to mobile delivery for target populations in a spirit of generosity and collaboration. A special thanks to Jeremy Richards for his tremendous efforts in overseeing the study. Thanks to Sarah Davis and Chrystal Marte for their assistance data preparation, and to Ryan Cunningham, Jonathan O’Hadi, Ana Lomidze, Katerina Lup, Ramiz Rafailov, Jeremy Richards and Samantha Slavkin for their efforts in developing the content, and to Tom Dauerheimer for developing the artwork for Mindful Messaging—it was a true labor of love!

Author’s Contributions

LT: Designed and executed the study, performed data analyses, and wrote the paper.

TS: Collaborated in the design, data analyses, and writing/editing of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Pace University, 13th Floor 41 Park Row, New York, NY, 10038, USA

    Leora Trub

  2. Department of Psychology, Hunter College of The City University of New York (CUNY), 695 Park Ave, New York, NY, 10065, USA

    Tyrel J. Starks

  3. Health Psychology and Clinical Science Doctoral Program, Graduate Center, CUNY, 365 5th Ave, New York, NY, 10016, USA

    Tyrel J. Starks

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  1. Leora Trub
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Correspondence to Leora Trub.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Trub, L., Starks, T.J. Textual Healing: Proof of Concept Study Examining the Impact of a Mindfulness Intervention on Smartphone Behavior. Mindfulness 8, 1225–1235 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-017-0697-y

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