Digital White Spaces: A Cyberpsychology-Informed Framework to Mobile Phone Addiction

Mobile-phone overuse and attention fragmentation have become pressing societal and public-health concerns. Cyberpsychology research highlights addictive engagement loops driven by intermittent rewards, persuasive design, and habit formation. In this article we synthesize current evidence on mobile-phone addiction and propose “Digital White Spaces” (DWSs), a socio-technical framework that combines privacy-preserving monitoring, AI-driven detection of addictive loops, device-mode interventions, and physical signal-limited zones to restore user autonomy.