Abstract Smartphone and social media use are common leisure activities among college students. These activities are correlated with boredom in survey research, yet causality is undetermined. Using an experimental design, we assessed the effect of smartphone use and other common, free-choice activities on boredom. For this study, 40 college students completed four, 30-min conditions on separate days each in the same room: quiet sitting (Control); treadmill walking (Treadmill); utilizing a smartphone to engage with social-media (Smartphone); and completing self-selected schoolwork (Schoolwork). Participants completed three validated surveys assessing different aspects of state boredom at pre, mid, and post for each condition. A four condition by three time-point repeated-measure ANOVA compared the mean results for each measure of boredom. Both the Smartphone and Control conditions caused statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) increases in all three measures of boredom. The Treadmill condition led to increases in two of the measures of boredom. Conversely, Schoolwork caused a statistically significant decrease in boredom across all three measures. Thus, given a 30-min free-choice period, students should be advised that doing schoolwork or, to a lesser extent, taking a walk might better prevent boredom than social media driven smartphone use.

中文翻译：

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智能手机促进社交媒体使用、跑步机行走和学校作业对大学生无聊的影响：受试者内部的结果，对照实验

摘要 智能手机和社交媒体的使用是大学生常见的休闲活动。这些活动与调查研究中的无聊有关，但因果关系尚未确定。我们使用实验设计评估了使用智能手机和其他常见的自由选择活动对无聊的影响。在这项研究中，40 名大学生在不同的日子里在同一个房间里完成了四个 30 分钟的条件：安静的坐着（控制）；跑步机行走（Treadmill）；使用智能手机与社交媒体互动（智能手机）；并完成自选课业（Schoolwork）。参与者完成了三项经过验证的调查，评估了每种情况在前、中和后状态无聊的不同方面。四个条件乘三个时间点重复测量方差分析比较了每个无聊测量的平均结果。智能手机和控制条件都导致所有三种无聊程度的统计显着增加（p ≤ 0.05）。跑步机条件导致两种无聊程度的增加。相反，在所有三项措施中，课业导致无聊程度在统计上显着减少。因此，鉴于有 30 分钟的自由选择时间，应建议学生做功课或在较小程度上散步可能比使用社交媒体驱动的智能手机更能防止无聊。