How much time do you spend on your phones, and how many times do you unlock your phone screens every day? A simple thing such as your phone’s screensaver can impact your connectedness to nature and in turn affect your psychological and physical well-being, researchers have found.

“Past studies have shown that connectedness with nature changes as a result of exposure to different images, specifically nature versus urban scenes,” says Dr Jose Yong, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at James Cook University in Singapore and co-author of the research paper titled Urban-Themed Mobile Phone Wallpapers Reduce Connectedness with Nature Compared with Nature-Themed Wallpapers: Evidence from Two-Field Studies.

Connectedness with nature refers to the perception of being a part of the natural world – that is, how much individuals see nature as part of their identity. According to the biophilia hypothesis, humans have an innate tendency to seek connections with life and life-like processes. This strong connection with nature contributes to meeting psychological needs for affiliation, which improves well-being. It has also been linked to a range of positive mental health outcomes, including higher life satisfaction, a stronger sense of meaning in life, enhanced vitality, self-acceptance, mindfulness, and reduced levels of anxiety and depression.

“Since we see our phone wallpapers so many times a day times a day, even something that seems as inconspicuous as an image in the background might have a deeper psychological effect than we realise,” says Dr Yong.Yet, surprisingly little research has examined the psychological impacts of such subtle yet recurrent exposure. So, the researchers set out to investigate the effects of mobile phone wallpapers on individuals' sense of connection to nature. They carried out two field experiments involving mobile phone users – each over a two-week period – to assess the impact of different wallpapers on nature connectedness.

The results showed that those with nature-themed wallpapers felt more emotionally connected to the natural world afterwards, compared to those with urban-themed ones – despite the fact that people generally do not actively focus on their wallpapers.

“Our findings suggest that even small, everyday digital experiences can shape how we think and feel – without us fully realising it. Just like how being in nature can improve mood and well-being, simply seeing nature in our digital space might help keep those good feelings going”, says lead author of the research paper, Dr Sarah Chan, Research Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.

“It also hints at a simple way to boost nature connection in today’s screen-heavy world: by choosing nature images for our digital backgrounds. Since more and more of our lives are spent online, this could be a small but powerful tool for improving people’s relationships with the natural world,” she adds.

A closer look at the field experiments

Experiment 1
In the first study, participants from a university in Singapore were recruited for a two-week experimental study. The researchers screened for students who had non-nature-themed wallpapers on both their lock and home screens. These students were then randomly assigned to use either a nature-themed or urban-themed wallpaper for the study period with the goal of seeing if simply changing one’s phone wallpaper could influence a person’s sense of connection to nature. Participants who had urban wallpapers reported significantly lower connectedness with nature compared to those with nature-themed wallpapers.

Experiment 2
However, because all participants started with non-nature wallpapers, it was not evident whether nature images boosted nature connectedness, urban images reduced it, or whether it was a combination of both.

To address this gap, the researchers conducted a second study with a more diverse sample of wallpaper types. This time, participants were not limited to those with non-nature wallpapers. They were randomly placed into three groups: nature wallpaper, urban wallpaper, and a control group that kept their current wallpaper. The researchers also sampled a wider variety of images. Participants in the nature or urban groups were asked to change both their lock and home screens to the assigned image and keep it for two weeks. Control participants were told not to change anything. All participants’ connection to nature were assessed after two weeks.

Participants who used urban wallpapers again showed significantly lower connectedness with nature compared to those in the control group. However, there was no significant difference between the nature and control groups – suggesting that urban wallpapers may reduce our sense of connection to nature, rather than nature wallpapers necessarily increasing it.

PAPER

Chan, S. H. M., Qiu, L., & Yong, J. (2025). Urban-themed mobile phone wallpapers reduce connectedness with nature compared with nature-themed wallpapers: Evidence from two-field studies. https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/eco.2024.0055

Find out more about the Singapore campus of James Cook University.

Discover further information on areas of research, and research strength at James Cook University in Singapore.

Contacts

Dr Jose Yong jose.yong@jcu.edu.au

Media: Ms Pinky Sibal [email protected] / Ms Hoe Shu Rin [email protected]