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HEALTH

One in four children and young those with Internet addiction, addiction time at the University of Cambridge,
people could have problematic smart- to Facebook, compulsive shopping and raised concerns, noting that the defini-
phone use, according to research that higher levels of drinking and cigarette tion of problematic internet use var-
also suggests such behaviour is asso- smoking. ied considerably across studies, and
ciated with poorer mental health. The Among the studies that probed the measures used were contested.
amount of time children and teens mental health, the results suggested She said studies finding little signs of
spend using their devices has become people with problematic smartphone problematic internet use might have
an issue of growing concern. The ex- use were also more likely to have de- been overlooked, while the research
perts behind the latest study said they pression — for which the odds were could not say whether problematic
wanted to look beyond the time young more than three times worse — anxiety, smartphone use caused poorer mental
people were spending on smartphones feelings of stress and poor sleep as well health.
and instead explore the type of rela- as poorer educational attainment. Kalk “It has been shown previously that
tionship they had with such devices. said further studies were needed to ex- smartphone effects are not a one-way
plore if these behaviours were hard to street, but that mood can impact the
he results suggest more than 23% break, or cause harm — other key fea- amount of smartphone use as well,
of young people have a dysfunc- tures of an addiction. making these correlations bidirectional
T tional relationship with their The authors argued that the avail- in nature,” she said.
smartphones, and that this appears ability and pervasiveness of smart
to be associated with poorer mental t is a fact of modern day life that
health. “It seems like a substantial mi- smartphones dominate people’s
nority of teenagers and young people Problematic smartphone I lives and interests due to their
from various different countries are increased affordability and function-
self-reporting a pattern of behaviour use appears to be more ality. However, the negative aspects of
that … we recognise from other addic- common in wealthier smartphone use, such as smartphone
tions,” said Dr Nicola Kalk of King’s Col- addiction, have recently been brought
lege London, co-author of the study. individuals, something up.
“The quality of the evidence is poor, that is generally driven Existing reports from various coun-
but it is enough to warrant further tries have shown that an increasing
investigation.” by early adopters of new number of individuals cannot live
Writing in the journal BMC Psychia- technology as well as in without their smart phones, and over
try, the team reported how they looked half of these individuals never leave
at data from 41 studies involving a total those with low self-esteem home without their smart phones. A
of almost 42,000 participants across and greater levels large-scale market research based on
Europe, Asia and America, predomi- monitoring data on 1.3 billion smart
nately in their teens or early 20s. These of loneliness phones has revealed that over 176 mil-
studies used questionnaires to probe lion people worldwide can be consid-
the prevalence of problematic smart- ered “mobile addicts”.
phone use — behaviours such as being phones in everyday life meant prob- Smart phones are a prominent
anxious when the device is not avail- lematic use of the devices posed a dif- source of addiction because they allow
able or neglecting other activities to ferent and “arguably much bigger pub- people to install various applications
spend time on the smartphone. lic health problem” than substances and perform numerous compelling
Taken together, the team said on of abuse or internet gaming. Kalk said activities like mobile Internet and mo-
average these studies suggested as the team were now looking at wheth- bile instant messaging that are in line
many as one in four children and young er smartphones were just delivering with their personal needs and interests.
people had problematic smartphone addictive content, or whether there When individuals obtain favourable
use, with girls in their late teens the was something inherently addictive outcomes from smartphone use, they
most likely to report such behaviour. about using such devices. She added become addicted. The study showed
Subsets of the studies showed prob- that tracking use, a common feature that individuals that use smart phones
lematic smartphone use appears to be on phones, was helpful. “Once you are more likely to develop device
more common in wealthier individuals, start monitoring your use, you are dependency compared with people
something the team said might be driv- engaging with its impact and how much who use traditional mobile phones. So,
en by early adopters of new technology, time it is taking and what you are not are we becoming too hooked to your
as well as in those with low self-esteem doing because you are spending time smart phone? If yes, take care!
and greater levels of loneliness. It was on your phone,” she said.
also found to be more common among Dr Amy Orben, an expert in screen LETTERS@TEHELKA.COM

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