Can Mindfulness Improve Your Relationship With Technology?

Many of us have experienced it. You pick up your phone to check one notification, and twenty minutes later you’re still scrolling. Maybe you reach for social media without thinking when you’re stressed, bored, or avoiding a difficult task. Technology isn’t inherently bad, but our relationship with it can sometimes become automatic rather than intentional.

As interest in digital wellbeing continues to grow, researchers are exploring strategies that help people develop healthier technology habits. One approach receiving increasing attention is mindfulness.

What does the research say?

A recent scoping review by Thomas and colleagues (2025) examined the existing evidence for mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) as a way to address problematic technology use. Rather than testing a single program, the review analyzed eight studies conducted between 2017 and 2023 involving adolescents, university students, and adults experiencing challenges such as:

Gaming disorder
Problematic social media use
Smartphone addiction
Internet addiction

Across the studies, participants typically completed five to twelve group-based mindfulness sessions, with many following an eight-session format.

The findings are encouraging

Although the current research is still relatively small, the results were consistently positive.

Participants who completed mindfulness-based interventions often experienced:

Reduced symptoms of problematic gaming, smartphone, and internet use
Less compulsive social media use
Improved emotional regulation
Better coping strategies
Reduced impulsivity
Less screen time in several studies
Improved mood and overall wellbeing

While these findings don’t suggest mindfulness is a cure-all, they do point toward its potential as a valuable tool for supporting healthier technology habits.

Why might mindfulness help?

One of the most interesting parts of the review wasn’t just whether mindfulness worked, but why it might work.

Many of our digital behaviours happen on autopilot. We unlock our phones without realizing it. We open social media during moments of discomfort. We scroll to avoid difficult emotions or fill empty moments.

Mindfulness helps interrupt these automatic patterns by increasing awareness of what’s happening in the present moment.

Researchers suggest mindfulness may help by:

Increasing awareness of habitual technology use
Improving emotional self-regulation
Reducing the urge to escape uncomfortable emotions through technology
Strengthening intentional decision-making
Increasing tolerance for discomfort
Reducing cravings and impulsive behaviours

Instead of reacting automatically, mindfulness creates a small pause between the urge and the action. That pause gives us the opportunity to choose how we want to respond.

What this means in everyday life

Mindfulness doesn’t require deleting your apps or giving up technology altogether.

Instead, it encourages questions like:

Why am I picking up my phone right now?
What am I feeling in this moment?
Is technology helping me meet a need, or helping me avoid one?

Sometimes the answer is simple. Maybe you’re genuinely connecting with a friend or looking up information you need.

Other times, you might notice you’re reaching for your phone because you’re anxious, overwhelmed, lonely, or simply uncomfortable with having nothing to do.

Developing awareness of these patterns is often the first step toward changing them.

A promising direction, but more research is needed

It’s important to keep these findings in perspective.

The authors note that the current evidence base is still limited. Most studies involved relatively small groups of participants, many were conducted with university students, and few used rigorous randomized controlled trial designs. Long-term outcomes also remain largely unknown.

For these reasons, mindfulness-based approaches can’t yet be recommended as a standalone solution for problematic technology use.

However, the consistency of the early findings is encouraging. As larger and more diverse studies emerge, we’ll gain a clearer understanding of when mindfulness is most effective and who benefits the most.

Final thoughts

Technology is becoming increasingly woven into nearly every aspect of our lives. Rather than asking whether we should use technology, a more helpful question may be how we use it (and what supports we need in order to make positive habit changes).

Mindfulness offers a practical way to bring more intention into our digital lives. By becoming more aware of our habits, emotions, and automatic responses, we create opportunities to make choices that better support our wellbeing.

Healthy technology use isn’t about perfection or strict rules. It’s about building awareness, creating balance, and making space for more intentional moments both online and offline.

Reference

Thomas, J., Al-Beyahi, F., Colder Carras, M., Aljuboori, D., Alomairah, S., & Thrul, J. (2025). Mindfulness-based approaches to problematic technology use: A scoping review. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 18, 100653. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2025.100653