Changing electronic use behavior in adolescents while studying: An interventional psychology experiment

In an increasingly technological world, electronic distractions are ubiquitous and make focused studying difficult. Students surround themselves with technology while studying, despite a plethora of evidence that cell phones, television, and social media negatively impact academic performance. Thus, it seems that theoretical knowledge of the negative effects of electronic distraction on academic performance alone is insufficient to change students’ study habits. In this paper, we hypothesized that if high school students observed the change in their academic performance due to electronic distractions, they would be more likely to change their study habits. We conducted an interventional psychology experiment to test the verbal and visual memory of high school students with various distractions present. The students performed these tests while listening to instrumental music, lyrical music, television, or in silence. After the interventions, subjects were asked if they would change their study habits based on their interventions. All students were then surveyed two weeks after the interventions to determine if they had changed their study habits. A higher percentage of the control group changed their habits, but several treatment group subjects were found to have ruminated on their interventions and ultimately changed their habits despite initially not committing to. This prompts further exploration into this method of habit-breaking for students.