Is Habitual Smartphone Use at Odds with Digital Disconnection? Insights from a Cross-Sectional Survey among Belgian Adults

Digital disconnection is defined as setting deliberate limits to connectivity to enhance (digital) well-being. Yet, for some people, disconnecting from their devices may prove more difficult than for others. One important but understudied factor that may help explain such differences is how habitually people use their smartphones. Drawing on cross-sectional survey data from 944 Belgian adults (50.40% female, Mage = 42.28, SDage = 13.63), we therefore investigated how individual differences in habitual smartphone use are associated with perceived difficulty with disconnection and disconnection frequency, as well as how these variables (partly) explain how habitual smartphone use relates to well-being. Structural equation modeling revealed that habitual smartphone use was indeed positively associated with perceived difficulty with disconnection (β = 0.40, p < .001), which, in turn, was negatively associated with disconnection frequency (β = -0.16, p < .001). Moreover, perceived difficulty with disconnection showed a negative association with well-being (β = -0.24, p = < .001), while disconnection frequency showed a positive association with well-being (β = 0.10, p = .001). The analyses also revealed a significant indirect effect from habitual smartphone use to well-being, with the strongest pathway via perceived difficulty with disconnection (β = -0.10, p < .001). These findings highlight the need to further investigate the role of habitual smartphone use in shaping how people experience and manage digital disconnection, as well as its implications for well-being.