The participants installed an application on their phone that blocked all forms of internet access while still allowing texts and calls to be sent and received. The application also allowed the investigators to track adherence to the intervention. The participants were still free to access the internet from other sources, like desktop computers.

Changes during the intervention period were compared to a 2-week control period in which the participants had unrestricted access to mobile internet. Half of the participants followed the control first, then followed the intervention for 2 weeks (delayed intervention), whereas the other half of the participants followed the intervention for 4 weeks (immediate intervention).

Blocking smartphone internet access resulted in the following effects:

Reduced daily smartphone screen time (–153 minutes per day in the 4-week intervention, –131 minutes per day in the 2-week intervention)
Improved subjective well-being (based on a composite of positive affect, negative affect, and life satisfaction)
Improved mental health (based on composite of depression, anxiety, anger, social anxiety, and personality functioning)
Improved attention (based on accuracy during a test of sustained attention and reductions in self-reported attention lapses)

The effects blocking smartphone internet access

A majority (83%) of the participants reported feeling motivated to reduce smartphone use, and the participants who completed the full study did have better mental health and attention abilities at baseline than participants who dropped out.

Blocking smartphone internet access can benefit mental health Original paper