Digital Distractions with Peer Influence: The Impact of Mobile App Usage on Academic and Labor Market Outcomes
Quarterly Journal of Economics · 2025 · Panle Jia Barwick、Siyu Chen、Chao Fu、Teng Li
中文摘要
人们对青年过度使用手机的担忧日益加剧。本文估计了行为性和情境性同伴效应，并就学生本人及其同伴的应用使用如何影响学业表现、身体健康和劳动力市场结果提供了全面证据。分析基于中国一所大学的行政数据，涵盖三届学生、四年时间。本文利用室友随机分配、对一项政策冲击（针对未成年人的游戏限制）的差异化暴露，以及对一个离散事件（某款爆款电子游戏发布）的差异化暴露进行识别。应用使用具有传染性：室友在校期间应用使用量增加一个标准差，会使学生本人的使用量提高5.8%。高强度应用使用对所有测量结果均有害。应用使用量增加一个标准差，会使平均绩点（GPA）降低相当于同届同专业内部标准差的36.2%，并使工资降低2.3%。室友的应用使用通过干扰和行为溢出两条渠道降低学生的平均绩点和工资，由此产生的总负面效应超过学生本人应用使用影响幅度的一半。若将中国针对未成年人的每周三小时游戏限制扩展至大学生，将使其起薪提高0.9%。高频GPS与应用使用数据显示，重度应用使用者在自习室停留时间更少，上课迟到或缺席更为频繁，睡眠时间也更短。
Abstract
Abstract Concerns about excessive mobile phone use among youth are mounting. We present estimates of behavioral and contextual peer effects, along with comprehensive evidence on how students’ own and their peers’ app usage affect academic performance, physical health, and labor market outcomes. Our analysis draws on administrative data from a Chinese university covering three student cohorts over four years. We exploit random roommate assignments, differential exposure to a policy shock (gaming restrictions for minors), and differential exposure to a discrete event (the introduction of a blockbuster video game) for identification. App usage is contagious: a one s.d. increase in roommates’ in-college app usage raises own usage by 5.8%. High app usage is harmful across all measured outcomes. A one s.d. increase in app usage reduces GPAs by 36.2% of a within-cohort-major s.d. and lowers wages by 2.3%. Roommates’ app usage reduces a student’s GPA and wages through both disruptions and behavioral spillovers, generating a total negative effect that exceeds half the magnitude of the impact from the student’s own app usage. Extending China’s three-hour-per-week gaming restriction for minors to college students would boost their initial wages by 0.9%. High-frequency GPS and app usage data show that heavy app users spend less time in study halls, are more frequently late or absent from class, and get less sleep.