In Favor of Digital Detox: Developing the Attitude Toward Digital Detox Scale

ABSTRACT The extensive usage of digital devices can lead to technological overload, potentially damaging interpersonal relations, individual performance, and personal well‐being. Digital detox describes consumers' counter‐reaction by intentionally reducing the use of digital devices for a specific period of time. This research introduces the theoretical conceptualization and empirical development of the one‐factorial 7‐item Attitude toward Digital Detox (ADD) scale, which measures consumers’ favorable attitudes toward temporarily reducing digital consumption. Across seven studies, we attest to the strong psychometric properties of the scale, show its relation with related constructs (e.g., mindfulness, self‐control, implicit theories of intelligence), provide evidence of its predictive validity for the time consumers spend watching online videos, and demonstrate known‐groups validity based on both activity preferences (offline vs. online) of Reddit groups and lecture format preferences (in‐person vs. online) of students. Our scale enables future research on antecedents and consequences of the attitude toward temporarily reducing digital consumption.