'Problematic smartphone use' leads to double the level of teen anxiety
Teenagers displaying 'problematic smartphone use' are more likely to experience anxiety, depression and poor sleep, researchers have found in two new studies.
Around one in five teenagers aged 16-18 showed signs of unhealthy phone use, academics at King's College London Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience found. While researchers did not say that some teens are addicted to their phones – noting that making that claim would require clear demonstration of harm and a clinical need for intervention – they noted some parallels between problematic smartphone use (PSU) and issues with addiction in other areas, including distress if phone access is restricted and loss of control over use.
'Problematic smartphone use is a construct that researchers have come up with to describe a pattern of smartphone use, which shares some similarities to the way other people would talk about their behavioural addictions for things like problem gambling,' Dr Nicola Kalk, a co-author of the research at King’s College London, told the Associated Press in Euro News.
'So the features it shares are: subject to loss of control over use, primacy of the smartphone in their life so that they're spending time on their smartphone in preference to other meaningful activities or sleep; that they continue doing this despite an awareness of the downsides; [and] that they feel a real sense of distress if they can't use their smartphone,' she added.
What did the research find?
The first study examined 650 16-18-year-olds from five schools in England from January - March 2020, while the second looked at 70 students aged 13-16 from two schools over four weeks in 2022, both using questionnaires. Overall, 18.7% of 16-18-year-olds self-reported problematic smartphone use, ranging from 13.0% to 43.1%. Rates were higher among girls in both investigations.
In the second study, 14.5% of 13-16-year-0lds self-reported PSU, with concerning results for poor mental health: 44.4% of the younger teenagers who said they display PSU reported symptoms of anxiety compared to 26.4% without, making them nearly twice as likely to experience these symptoms; and 55.6% of those displaying PSU reported symptoms of depression compared to 35.8% who did not have problematic usage.
Insomnia also correlated to an increase in PSU over the four weeks, while teens with such smartphone habits also spent longer on Instagram and TikTok.
Both studies also found that teenagers want to limit their smartphone usage, including leaving phones in another room at bedtime (58.8% in the first study), turning on 'do not disturb' (73.5% of the first study) and 90% of the 13-16-year-olds reported trying to cut down using methods like turning off notifications.
What do other experts say?
However, Professor Chris Fergurson, Professor of Psychology, Stetson University, criticised the term 'problematic smartphone use.'
'There’s no official diagnosis for the condition, and no agreed-upon set of criteria for how to define it...many “normal” behaviours could be over pathologised. These figures could include kids who might be fine but just really like their phones and social media.'
He also pointed out that PSU might be symptomatic of 'underlying issues': '“Problematic smartphone use” isn’t really a problem of smartphones; [it's] a psychological issue. Meaning, even if we could wave a magic wand and make all smartphones go away, these kids could still have problems overdoing other stuff.' He said that a reframed approach to technology was needed.
'Technology overuse is best understood as a new symptom of age-old disorders such as depression, anxiety or ADHD, not a new set of problems.'
Also taking issue, Professor Bernadka Dubicka, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Hull and York Medical School University of York, said: 'Screen time is not a helpful term in research, as young people may be using screens in many different ways, which could be helpful or harmful.'
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