# Screen Time Study Reveals Phone Use Habits Impact Memory and Sleep

> New study shows how phone usage habits, not hours, hurt memory and sleep.
- Title: Screen Time Study Reveals Phone Use Habits Impact Memory and…
- Summary: New study shows how phone usage habits, not hours, hurt memory and sleep. A study links excessive smartphone scrolling to poor memory, reduced attention…
- Keywords: screen time, memory, sleep, self control, fomo, smartphone use, acta psychologica, semmelweis university, hungarian university students, Screen, Time, Study
- Source: Inc — https://inc.com/lucia-auerbach/think-screen-time-hurting-memory-sleep-new-study-number-of-hours-not-biggest-factor/91419738
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: screen time, memory, sleep, self control, fomo, smartphone use, acta psychologica, semmelweis university, hungarian university students
## New Study Finds Phone Use Habits Matter More Than Hours
A new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Acta Psychologica links excessive smartphone scrolling to poor memory, reduced attention, disrupted sleep, and balance issues.

> Personality alone … does not make someone addicted to their phone
## Key Factors Behind Problematic Phone Use
Researchers at Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary found that a weak sense of self-control and fear of missing out, or FOMO, rather than personality alone, were key factors behind problematic phone use.
## Study Lead Researcher Explains
Johanna Takács, a senior research fellow at Semmelweis University’s Faculty of Health Sciences and the study’s lead researcher, said in a release that personality alone does not make someone addicted to their phone.
## Three Types of Smartphone Users Identified
The researchers surveyed 225 Hungarian university students ages 18 to 34 to identify three types of smartphone users: pure social, light process, and heavy process users.
## Pure Social Users
Pure social users mostly used their phones to send messages and keep in touch with people, staying under five hours of daily use.
## Light Process Users
Light process users combined socializing with news, entertainment, and scrolling but stayed under roughly five hours of daily phone use.
## Heavy Process Users
Heavy process users made up about one-third of participants, spending five or more hours daily on their phones, mostly consuming content rather than communicating.
## Heavy Process Users Show Higher Problems
This group showed the highest levels of problematic use and FOMO, along with the lowest levels of self-control, and performed worse on memory and attention tasks.
## Heavy Process Users Report Poorer Sleep
Heavy process users also reported poorer sleep and had the lowest levels of self-control among the three groups.
## Key takeaway

A study links excessive smartphone scrolling to poor memory, reduced attention, disrupted sleep, and balance issues, with self-control and FOMO being key factors.