Why We Prefer Awareness Over Action in the Attention Economy

We live in a hyper-connected world in which the smartphone is the gateway to our social lives, information, and work productivity. While smartphones are undeniably essential, how much use is beneficial and advances our goals remains an open question. As with any product, overconsumption can have negative consequences. Since the 2010s, declines in adolescent mental health, particularly increases in depression and anxiety among teenage girls, have been linked to smartphone screen time, especially on social media platforms (Haidt, 2024). Smartphone use becomes maladaptive when it displaces in-person social interaction, disrupts sleep patterns, or fragments attention.

In a survey of IE University students, around 90% said they wanted to reduce their mobile usage and had already tried to lower their screen time in the past. These students are not unique. Many of us today are grappling with a growing sense that our smartphone habits are getting out of hand. As concerns about the addictive nature of smartphone apps have intensified, so too has the call for solutions. In response, both Apple and Google launched screen time tracking tools in 2018, promising to help users regain control and improve their "digital well-being."

These apps offer a mix of features. On one hand, there are awareness tools, which quantify the time spent on the phone, the number of pickups, notifications received, and usage broken down by app or category. On the other hand, there are more proactive control tools, which allow users to set time limits, enable “Do Not Disturb” modes, or activate grayscale mode, which turns the screen black and white, making it less visually stimulating.

But how effective are these tools in actually helping people reduce screen time?

To investigate, we ran a research project with IE students as part of a workshop on “Attention,” shortly after the launch of these tools. Participants enabled screen time tracking on their phones and submitted screenshots of their usage graphs, allowing us to collect objective behavioral data. Notably, we did not instruct them to use any of the control tools.

What We Found

First, the good news: self-awareness improved significantly. Participants became more accurate at estimating their screen time, and many reported enjoying the self-tracking experience. They said it gave them a sense of control and was helpful for productivity.

However, when we analyzed the actual data, we saw no reduction in overall screen time. Nearly half of the participants (48%) acknowledged that the screen time tracking had not changed their behavior. And only a small fraction reported using the more proactive control features.

So, even though people liked the experience and felt more aware of their habits, that awareness didn’t translate into meaningful behavior change.

In a follow-up study, we found that participants expressed greater interest in awareness tools over control tools, and believed the former to be more effective at helping them understand their smartphone use. Yet, paradoxically, they also acknowledged that control tools were actually more effective for reducing screen time.

The Awareness-Action Gap

There is a clear disconnect between awareness and action, and people seem to know it. Why doesn’t information alone drive behavior change?

One explanation comes from psychology: people often prefer to contemplate change rather than actually make it. This phenomenon is known as symbolic self-completion, the idea that progress toward a goal can be symbolized through superficial actions that feel meaningful, without requiring real change (Wicklund & Gollwitzer, 2013). In this sense, self-tracking may serve as a symbolic gesture, providing a sense of progress while actually distracting from more effective interventions.

Our research supports this idea. For example, grayscale mode, a design friction that makes using one’s phone (especially social media) visually dull and less enjoyable, can reduce screen time by around 18%. These types of design frictions are self-imposed inconveniences that alter the reward structure of phone use. 

In our experiments, grayscale mode outperformed both goal setting with time limits and simple self-tracking. And yet, people still preferred the less effective — but more psychologically comfortable — self-tracking option.

The Illusion of Control

Even when digital nudges like grayscale mode work, there’s still a fundamental problem: people can easily disable them. Ultimately, behavior change still relies on the user’s self-control. Many of us hope for a magic solution to digital overconsumption but, as with other vices, it often comes down to consistency and discipline.

Digital tools can help but only if we’re willing to use them, and stick with them.

A Win-Win Opportunity for Tech?

At first glance, it may seem counterintuitive for technology companies to help consumers reduce screen time. After all, platforms like Instagram and Facebook rely heavily on ad revenue that’s directly tied to user attention. Why would they want us to spend less time on their apps?

However, this view is changing. While traditional marketing focused on maximizing consumption, the rise of sustainable consumption shows that supporting consumer well-being can also benefit businesses in the long run.

Social media use has been linked with increased anxiety, depression, body image concerns, and suicidal ideation among teenagers (Wells et al., 2021). These associations pose reputational risks for tech companies. 

Research by Nevskaya and Albuquerque (2019) on online gaming found that limiting excessive online gaming sessions resulted in shorter sessions, but also longer subscriptions, increasing both consumer satisfaction and company revenue. This kind of “win-win outcome” benefits both sides: users gain control, and companies build trust, loyalty, and long-term engagement.

Similarly, in the realm of e-reading, Zhang et al. (2021) found that users are even willing to pay more to restrict their future usage, recognizing that limitations can support healthier consumption habits.

Toward Responsible Design

Taken together, these insights suggest that designing for well-being need not necessarily come at the expense of business success. In fact, giving consumers better tools to manage their attention may be a good long-term strategies available to tech firms today. Screen time matters because it shapes how attention is allocated, how stress is experienced, and how mental resources are replenished or depleted over time.

People want to feel in control. But awareness alone isn’t enough and they know it. We must bridge the gap between insight and action, and that means creating digital environments that nudge users toward healthier habits by default, while preserving their autonomy. Empowering people to use technology more intentionally, not just more often, could lead to better outcomes for everyone.

References

Haidt, J. (2024). The anxious generation: How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness. Penguin.

Nevskaya, Y., & Albuquerque, P. (2019). How Should Firms Manage Excessive Product Use? A Continuous-Time Demand Model to Test Reward Schedules, Notifications, and Time Limits. Journal of Marketing Research, 56(3), 379-400

Wells, G., Horwitz, J., & Seetharaman, D. (2021). Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for teen girls, company documents show. The Wall Street Journal, 14.

Wicklund, R. A., & Gollwitzer, P. M. (2013). Symbolic self completion. Routledge.

Zhang, S., Chan, T. Y., Luo, X., & Wang, X. (2022). Time-inconsistent preferences and strategic self-control in digital content consumption. Marketing Science, 41(3), 616-636.

Zimmermann, L. (2021). “Your screen-time app is keeping track”: consumers are happy to monitor but unlikely to reduce smartphone usage. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 6(3), 377-382.

Zimmermann, L., & Sobolev, M. (2023). Digital strategies for screen time reduction: A randomized field experiment. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 26(1), 42-49.