L’uso intensivo dello smartphone nel contesto lavorativo genera fenomeni ormai ben documentati: distrazione da notifiche, ricorso al dispositivo come strategia di regolazione emotiva, difficoltà a mantenere confini chiari tra sfera professionale e personale. Quando questi comportamenti si consolidano, si configura quello che la letteratura definisce Problematic Smartphone Use (PSU), una problema diffuso che si manifesta con intensità variabile in funzione del contesto e della situazione individuale. Le risposte organizzative più comuni come i divieti o policy sull'uso dei dispositivi , agiscono sui sintomi senza intervenire sui meccanismi sottostanti né sviluppare nei dipendenti capacità durevoli di autoregolazione. Questo studio esplorativo mixed-method ha coinvolto 20 dipendenti di una cooperativa sociale del Nord Italia (10 educatori, 10 amministrativi), che per una settimana hanno utilizzato, su base volontaria, una delle due app di self-control proposte: Forest, basata sulla gamification, e AppBlock, basata sulla restrizione programmata. I dati sono stati raccolti tramite questionario post-intervento (37 item, scala Likert) e otto interviste semi-strutturate. Il coping emotivo risulta la dimensione PSU più rilevante nel campione, con valori più elevati nel personale amministrativo rispetto agli educatori. Le due app mostrano un’efficacia percepita sostanzialmente equivalente, il che orienta l’interpretazione verso il processo riflessivo attivato piuttosto che verso la specifica funzione tecnica dello strumento. Nella prospettiva del professionista riflessivo (Schön, 1983), Forest e AppBlock funzionano come mediatori della reflection-in-action, rendendo osservabili comportamenti prima automatici. La ricerca propone un modello formativo basato sulle App e discute il ruolo del formatore aziendale come facilitatore di consapevolezza digitale piuttosto che dispendatore di soluzioni tecnologiche.
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