Effects of Digital Detox on Mental Health in Young Adults: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether a short, self-guided program for cutting down smartphone screen time can reduce symptoms of depression in young adults. It includes students in Oslo, Norway, who have applied for help at the student mental health service (SiO Mental Health).

The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Does a 2-week screen time reduction program reduce symptoms of depression?
• Does it reduce symptoms of anxiety?
• Can a simple, widely available phone app reduce screen time, and does the reduction last?

Researchers will compare students who start the program right away with students who continue their usual care for 2 weeks and receive the same program afterwards. Participants are placed in one of the two groups by chance, like flipping a coin.

Participants will:

• Answer questionnaires about depression and anxiety symptoms at the start and again after 2 weeks
• Upload screenshots of the Screen Time summary on their iPhone at the start, after 2 weeks, and after 12 weeks
• Install an app that blocks the apps they find most distracting and keep it active for 2 weeks, if they are placed in the program group
• Take part entirely online, with no clinic visits and no contact with the study team

Study Overview

• Status: Not yet recruiting
• Conditions: Depressive Symptoms; Anxiety Symptoms; Screen Time
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: App-based smartphone screen time restriction program

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 200
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Thomas Mildestvedt, Professor; Phone Number: +47 55586163; Email: thomas.mildestvedt@uib.no

Study Locations

• Norway
  • Oslo, Norway
    • Studentsamskipnaden i Oslo
    • Contact: Thomas Mildestvedt, Professor; Phone Number: +47 55586163; Email: thomas.mildestvedt@uib.no

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Has applied for care at SiO Mental Health, the student mental health service in Oslo, and has received the service's response to the application
• Owns an iPhone (the screen time restriction tool requires iOS)
• Able to understand written Norwegian
• Provides informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

- None

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Care as usual
Experimental: Screen time reduction	Behavioral: App-based smartphone screen time restriction program; Two-week self-guided use of an iOS screen time restriction app. Participants block their most distracting apps, with notifications disabled. Unlocking requires a 30-second delay, allows 10 minutes of access, then a 5-minute cooldown.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Symptoms of depression (PHQ-9)	Patient Health Questionnaire-9, range 0 to 27, higher scores indicate more depressive symptoms.	From enrollment to the end of intervention at 2 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Symptoms of anxiety (GAD-7)	Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, range 0 to 21, higher scores indicate more anxiety symptoms.	From enrollment to the end of intervention at 2 weeks
Total smartphone screen time		2 weeks and 12 weeks after randomization
Smartphone screen time by app category		2 weeks and 12 weeks after randomization
Number of daily smartphone pickups		2 weeks and 12 weeks after randomization

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Self-reported changes in sleep, physical activity, social interaction and concentration	Single-item Likert-scale questions on perceived change in each domain during the 2-week period.	2 weeks
Self-reported changes in phone use behaviors	Single-item Likert-scale questions on perceived change in phone use habits during the 2-week period.	2 weeks
Adherence to the screen time restriction tool	Self-reported proportion of the 2-week period with the tool kept active, reported by the intervention group.	2 weeks
Perceived usefulness and burden of the tool	Self-reported usefulness, burden and intention to continue use, reported by the intervention group at 2 weeks and by both groups at 12 weeks.	2 weeks and 12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Bergen
• Collaborators: Studentsamskipnaden i Oslo (SiO)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Thomas Mildestvedt, Professor, University of Bergen

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): September 21, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2027
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 14, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 14, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): September 18, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): September 18, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 14, 2026
• Last Verified: September 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Mental Disorders; Behavioral Symptoms; Behavior; Anxiety Disorders; Depression
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1000700

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: Anonymized individual participant data underlying the published results.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: After publication of the primary results.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Upon request to the principal investigator, under a data sharing agreement.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No