具有同伴影响的数字干扰: 移动应用程序使用对学业和劳动力市场结果的影响

Quarterly Journal of Economics · 2025 · [{"name": "Panle Jia Barwick", "affiliation": ["Center for Economic and Policy Research", "National Bureau of Economic Research"]}, {"name": "Siyu Chen", "affiliation": ["Jinan University", "University of Jinan"]}, {"name": "Chao Fu", "affiliation": ["University of Wisconsin System", "National Bureau of Economic Research", "University of Wisconsin–Madison"]}, {"name": "Teng Li", "affiliation": ["Sun Yat-sen University"]}]

中文摘要

摘要对青少年过度使用手机的担忧日益加剧。本文估计了行为性与情境性同群效应, 并就学生自身及其同伴的应用程序使用如何影响学业表现、身体健康与劳动力市场结果提供了全面证据。分析基于一所中国大学覆盖三个学生队列、为期四年的行政数据。为进行识别, 我们利用了随机室友分配、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(一款爆款电子游戏的推出)的差异化暴露。应用程序使用具有传染性: 室友在校期间的应用程序使用量增加一个标准差, 会使学生自身的使用量提高5.8%。高强度的应用程序使用对所有测量的结果均有害: 应用程序使用量增加一个标准差, 会使GPA降低相当于同队列—同专业组内标准差的36.2%, 并使工资降低2.3%。室友的应用程序使用通过干扰和行为溢出两条渠道降低学生的GPA与工资, 所产生的总负向效应超过学生自身应用程序使用影响幅度的一半。将中国针对未成年人每周三小时的游戏限制扩展至大学生, 将使其初始工资提高0.9%。高频GPS与应用程序使用数据显示, 重度应用程序使用者在自习室停留的时间更少, 上课迟到或缺勤更频繁, 睡眠也更少。

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.