Abstract
Hypnosis and heavy smartphone use are both characterised by absorbed states in which one loses track of time and responds automatically to stimuli. In this pre-registered study, we tested whether there was a relationship between smartphone addiction and hypnotisability: one’s tendency to follow suggestions under hypnosis. Over 11 public lectures, we hypnotised 641 student-aged participants; after the hypnosis session, participants completed the Smartphone Addiction Scale (Short Version). There was a positive correlation between hypnotisability and smartphone addiction (r = .17, 95% CI [.09, .24], p < .001) with a magnitude similar to standard predictors of hypnotisability. This correlation was small but unlikely spurious: it was positive in 10 of the 11 samples (including two from psychology courses) and persisted in a follow-up several months later. The addiction scores in this Canadian sample were unexpectedly high (M = 31.41) compared to other countries. We hypothesise that targeting the absorbed, time-distorted, and automatic use of smartphones may promote healthier phone habits.
Highlights
Smartphone use has risen dramatically in the past decade
If heavy smartphone use can resemble hypnosis, people who are more hypnotisable may be more prone to problematic smartphone use, in which phone use interferes with daily life [9]
We propose that hypnosis and heavy smartphone use may share phenomenological features such as absorption, time distortion, and automaticity
Summary
Smartphone use has risen dramatically in the past decade. In the United States, 96% of young adults own a smartphone [1] and half of teenagers report feeling addicted to their phones [2]; other developed countries show similar rates [3]. Researchers and reporters have compared this heavy phone use to a trance or hypnosis [4, 5]. Madrigal [6] even likens the “hypnotic” state of endless social media scrolling to the trance-like absorption of slot machines [7], due to their intermittent rewards [8]. If heavy smartphone use can resemble hypnosis, people who are more hypnotisable may be more prone to problematic smartphone use, in which phone use interferes with daily life [9]. No studies have yet attempted to link these phenomena, so we present the first test of this hypothesis
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