History and terminology
It is also known as smartphone overuse, smartphone addiction, mobile phone overuse, or cell phone dependency. Founded in current research on the adverse consequences of overusing technology, "mobile phone overuse" has been proposed as a subset of forms of "digital addiction", or "digital dependence", reflecting increasing trends of compulsive behaviour amongst users of technological devices. Researchers have variously termed these behaviours "smartphone addiction" and "problematic smartphone use", as well as referring to use of non-smartphone mobile devices (cell phones). Forms of technology addiction have been considered as diagnoses since the mid 1990s. Panova and Carbonell published a review in 2018 that specifically encouraged terminology of "problematic use" in regard to technology behaviours, rather than continuing research based on other behavioral addictions. Unrestrained use of technological devices may affect developmental, social, mental and physical well-being and result in symptoms akin to other behavioral addictions. However, the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' has not formally codified smartphone overuse as a diagnosis. Gaming disorder has been recognised in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). Varied, changing recommendations are in part due to the lack of well established evidence or expert consensus, the differing emphasis of the classification manuals, as well as difficulties utilising animal models for behavioral addictions. Whilst published studies have shown associations between digital media use and mental health symptoms or diagnoses, causality has not been established, with nuances and caveats of researchers often misunderstood by the general public, or misrepresented by the media. A systematic review of reviews published in 2019 concluded that evidence, although of mainly low to moderate quality, showed an association of screen time with poorer psychological health including symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity, low self esteem, and behavioral issues in childhood and adolescence. Several studies have shown that females are more likely to overuse social media, and males video games. This has led experts to suggest that digital media overuse may not be a unified phenomenon, with some calling to delineate proposed disorders based on individual online activity. Due to the lack of recognition and consensus on the concepts, diagnoses and treatments are difficult to standardise or recommend, especially considering that "new media has been subject to such moral panic."Prevalence
International estimates of the prevalence of forms of technology overuse have varied considerably, with marked variations by nation and increases over time. Prevalence of mobile phone overuse depends largely on definition and thus the scales used to quantify a subject's behaviors. Two main scales are in use, the 20-item self-reported Problematic Use of Mobile Phones (PUMP) scale, and the Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale (MPPUS), which have been used both with adult and adolescent populations. There are variations in the age, gender, and percentage of the population affected problematically according to the scales and definitions used. The prevalence among British adolescents aged 11–14 was 10%. In India, addiction is stated at 39-44% for this age group. Under different diagnostic criteria, the estimated prevalence ranges from 0 to 38%, with self-attribution of mobile phone addiction exceeding the prevalence estimated in the studies themselves. The prevalence of the related problem of Internet addiction was 4.9-10.7% in Korea, and is now regarded as a serious public health issue. A questionnaire survey in Korea also found that these teenagers are twice as likely to admit that they are "mobile phone addicted" as adults. For most teenagers, smartphone communication is what they think is an important way to maintain social relationships and has become an important part of their lives. Additional scales used to measure smartphone addictions are the Korean Scale for Internet Addiction for adolescents (K-scale), the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS-SV), and the Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale (SAPS). These implicit tests were validated as means of measuring smartphone and internet addiction in children and adolescents in a study conducted by Daeyoung Roh, Soo-Young Bhang, Jung-Seok Choi, Yong Sil Kweon, Sang-Kyu Lee and Marc N. Potenza. Behaviors associated with mobile-phone addiction differ between genders. Older people are less likely to develop addictive mobile phone behavior because of different social usage, stress, and greater self-regulation. At the same time, the study by media regulator Ofcom has shown that 50% of 10-year-olds in the UK owned a smartphone in 2019. These children who grow with gadgets in their hands are more prone to mobile phone addiction, since their online and offline worlds merge into a single whole.Effects
Overuse of mobile phones may be associated with negative outcomes on mental and physical health, in addition to having an impact on how users interact socially.Social
Some people are replacing face-to-face conversations with cyber ones. Clinical psychologist Lisa Merlo says, "Some patients pretend to talk on the phone or fiddle with apps to avoid eye contact or other interactions at a party." Furthermore, *70% check their phones in the morning within an hour of getting up. *56% check their phones before going to bed. *48% check their phones over the weekend. *51% constantly check their phones during vacation. *44% reported they would feel very anxious and irritable if they did not interact with their phones within a week. This change in style from face-to-face to text-based conversation has also been observed by Sherry Turkle. Her work cites connectivity as an important trigger of social behavior change regarding communication; therefore, this adaptation of communicating is not caused only by the phone itself. In her book, ''Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other'', Turkle argues that people now find themselves in a state of "continual co-presence." This means that digital communication allows the occurrence of two or more realities in the same place and time. Subsequently, person also live in a "world of continual partial attention," the process of paying simultaneous attention to a number of sources of incoming information, but at a superficial level. Bombarded with an abundance of emails, texts, messages, people not only find themselves divesting people of their human characteristics or individuality, but also increasingly treating them as digital units. This is often referred to as depersonalization. According to Elliot Berkman, a psychology professor at the University of Oregon, the constant checking of phones is caused by reward learning and theHealth
Research from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine at Queen Mary in 2011 indicated that one in six cell phones is contaminated with fecal matter. Under further inspection, some of the phones with the fecal matter were also harboring lethal bacteria such as ''Psychological
There are concerns that some mobile phone users incur considerable debt, and that mobile phones are being used to violate privacy and harass others. In particular, there is increasing evidence that mobile phones are being used as a tool by children toNeural
There has been considerable speculation about the impact problematic mobile usage may have on cognitive development and how such habits could be ‘rewiring’ the brains of those highly engaged with their mobiles. Research has shown that the reward areas of the brains of those who use their phones more exhibit different structural connectivity than those who use their phones less. Further findings have linked digital media behaviors to the brain's self-regulatory control structures, suggesting that variation in individuals' ability to control behavioral impulses might also be a key psychological pathway connecting mobile technology habits to the brain.Distracted driving
Research has found that there is a direct relationship between mobile phone overuse and mobile phone use while driving. Mobile phone overuse can be especially dangerous in certain situations such as texting/browsing and driving or talking on the phone while driving. Over 8 people are killed and 1,161 are injured daily because of distracted driving. At any given daylight moment across U.S., approximately 660,000 drivers are using cell phones or electronic devices while driving. The significant number of injuries and accidents from distracted driving can be contributed at least partially to mobile phone overuse. However, many cell phone-related crashes are not reported due to drivers' reluctance to admit texting or talking behind the wheel. There is currently no national ban on texting while driving, but many states have implemented laws to try to prevent these accidents. Sixteen states as well as Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands passed laws prohibiting the use of hand-held devices while driving. Texting and driving is banned in most of the country; new drivers in 38 states and DC are not permitted to use cell phones behind the wheel. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, or NHTSA (which promotes safe driving through research and education), drivers between the ages of 16 and 24 were most distracted, with women at greater risk of dying in a crash. About 20,000 of motor vehicle fatalities between 2012 and 2017 were related to distracted driving. In the UK, the only way to currently use a mobile phone lawfully whilst driving is using a hands-free system. Any other type of phone use whilst in control of a vehicle, whether stationary or moving, carries a fine of £1, 000 and 6 penalty points. This can be increased for serious misuse. 1 in 5 of UK residents admit to checking social media whilst being behind the wheel. It's interesting to note that in the UK, it is also illegal for someone accompanying a learner driver to use their mobile phone whilst driving. As an instructor, they are classed as in control of the vehicle, even if they are not a professional instructor. A text can take one's eyes off the road for an average of five seconds. Although brief, one driving at 55 mph can travel the length of a football field in that time. Approximately three percent of drivers are talking on the phone when stopped at an intersection. Furthermore, five percent of drivers are on the phone at any given time. The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety (IIHS) reported those who used cell phones more often tended to brake harder, drive faster, and change lanes more frequently, predisposing them to crashes and near-crashes. They are also two to six times more likely to get into an accident. Research indicates driver performance is adversely affected by concurrent cell phone use, delaying reaction time and increasing lane deviations and length of time with eyes off the road. It can also cause "inattention blindness," in which drivers see but do not register what is in front of them. Teen drivers are especially at risk. About 1.2 million and 341,000 crashes in 2013 involved talking and texting, respectively. Distractions such as music, games, GPS, social media, etc., are potentially deadly when combined with inexperience. The dangers of driving and multitasking continue to rise as more technology is integrated into cars. Teens who texted more frequently were less likely to wear a seat belt and more likely to drive intoxicated or ride with a drunk driver. Cell phone use can reduce brain activity as much as 37%, affecting young drivers' abilities to control their vehicles, pay attention to the roadway, and respond promptly to traffic events.Tools to prevent or treat mobile phone overuse
The following tools or interventions can be used to prevent or treat mobile phone overuse.Behavioral
Many studies have found relationships between psychological or mental health issues and smartphone addiction. Hence, behavioral interventions such as individual or family psychotherapy for these issues may help. In fact, studies have found that psychotherapeutic approaches such asPhone settings
Many smartphone addiction activists (such as Tristan Harris) recommend turning one's phone screen to grayscale mode, which helps reduce time spent on mobile phones by making them boring to look at. Other phone settings alterations for mobile phone non-use included turning on airplane mode, turning off cellular data and/or Wi-Fi, turning off the phone, removing specific apps, and factory resetting.Phone apps
German psychotherapist and online addiction expert Bert te Wildt recommends using apps such as Offtime and Menthal to help prevent mobile phone overuse. In fact, there are many apps available on Android and iOS stores which help track mobile usage. For example, in iOS 12 Apple added a function called "Screen Time" that allows users to see how much time they have spent on the phone. In Android a similar feature called "digital wellbeing" has been implemented to keep track of cell phone usage. These apps usually work by doing one of two things: increasing awareness by sending user usage summaries, or notifying the user when he/she has exceeded some user-defined time-limit for each app or app category.Research-based
Studying and developing interventions for temporary mobile phone non-use is a growing area of research. Hiniker et al. generated 100 different design ideas for mobile phone non-use belonging to eight organic categories: information (i.e. agnostically providing information to the user about his or her behavior), reward (i.e. rewarding the user for engaging in behaviors that are consistent with his or her self-defined goals), punishment (i.e. punishing the user for engaging in behaviors that are inconsistent with his or her self-defined goals), disruption (i.e. a temporary barrier momentarily prevents the user from engaging in a specific behavior), limit (i.e. certain behaviors are time or context-bound or otherwise constrained within defined parameters), mindfulness (i.e. the user is asked to reflect on his or her choices, before, during or after making them), appeal to values (i.e. reminding the user about the underlying values that shaped his or her decisions about de- sired use and non-use), social support (i.e. opportunities for including other individuals into the intervention). Users found interventions related to information, limit, and mindfulness to be the most useful. The researchers implement an Android app that combined these three intervention types and found that users reduced their time with the apps they feel are a poor use of time by 21% while their use of the apps they feel are a good use of time remained unchanged. AppDetox allows users to define rules that limit their usage of specific apps. PreventDark detects and prevents problematic usage of smartphones in the dark. Using vibrations instead of notifications to limit app usage has also been found to be effective. Further, researchers have found group-based interventions that rely on users sharing their limiting behaviors with others to be effective.Bans on mobile phone use
In some places in the world the use of mobile phones was banned in classes during instructional time, for example, in France, Ontario. Research says it improves the performance of students.Psychological symptoms of phone usage
The psychological symptoms that people who are addicted to smartphones possession are depression, social isolation, low self-esteem and anxiety. Three types of disorders classified as follows: (1) Depression is a medical illness that adversely influences people in emotion, imagination, and action. It is the common word related to the mental problem accredited by clinical psychologists. It is the symptom that people possess a lot offline, however, the number of people gets in online these days. (2) Social isolation—the lack of interaction between individuals and society. If the communications are just done by the message on the phone, the conversation with face-to-face would no longer happen and the offline real-life friends would not be made or resisted anymore. People may think they are happy and satisfying their life, however, only online. Therefore, they would end up people feeling lonely and isolated from the world when they are in real life. (3) low self-esteem and anxiety are a lack of confidence and feeling negative about oneself. People check the reaction to their posts and care about likes, comments, and other's post, which decreases self-esteem. These connect to anxiety; caring other's reaction to show off themselves, checking phone frequently with no reason. It has been acknowledged that problematic smartphone use affects quality of life (QOL) parameters. For example, it was found that the user awareness mode while using the device affects the QOL parameters in various ways.Depression
Depressive symptoms, in particular, are some of the most serious psychological problems in adolescents; the relationship between depressive symptoms and mobile phone addiction is a critical issue because such symptoms may lead to substance abuse, school failure, and even suicide. Depression caused by phone addiction can result in failure of the entire life. For example, if the person is diagnosed with depression, they start to compare themselves with others. A person would curse other beings if everyone expected him/her to be in good fortune and well-being. Furthermore, the person may remind him/her failure of everything, convincing not to succeed at all costs.Isolation
The increase of mobile phone addiction levels would increase user's social isolation from a decrease of face-to-face social interactions, then users would face much more interpersonal problems. The phone stops the conversation and interaction between humans. The process of smartphone overuse may negatively affects social support and undermines user's psychological health. Some indirect evidence also exist. For example, Lemmens, Valkenburg, and Peter (2011) founded that behavioral addiction (i.e. gambling) with mobile phone overuse may leads to loneliness, causing conflict with family or friends, and potentially reducing social support.Low self-esteem and anxiety
The other psychological symptoms that are caused by phone addiction are self-esteem and anxiety. Today, Social Network Service (SNS) is one of the main streams in the world, therefore it dissolved a lot in daily life too. Studies with teens have consistently shown that there are significant relationships between high extroversion, high anxiety, low self-esteem, and mobile phone usage. The stronger the young person's mobile phone addiction, the more likely that individual is to have high mobile phone call time, receive excessive calls, and receive excessive text messages. Anxious people more easily perceive certain normal life matters as pressure. To reduce this stress might result in even more addictive behaviors and females are more likely to use mobile phones to maintain social relations. Moreover, online, under the name anonymous, people utilize it in bad ways like the cyberbully or spread rumors. People also force their opinions and post bad comments that might hurt others too. All of these examples would result in people by having a symptom of anxiety and low self-esteem that connects to depression.See also
*References
Further reading
* * * * * * Krajewska-Kulak, E., et alExternal links
* {{Digital media use and mental health Digital media use and mental health Addiction Overuse Substance dependence