Two new studies have found that addictive smartphone use in teenagers is linked to anxiety, depression and insomnia.
Adolescents who report problematic smartphone use have more likely to suffer from anxiety, depression or insomniaaccording to two new studies carried out in UK schools.
Researchers at King’s College London collected responses from 657 teenagers aged 16 to 18 in one study and from 69 children aged 13 to 16 over four weeks in the other.
According to the researchers, around 18.7% of 16- to 18-year-olds and around 14.5% of 13- to 16-year-olds reported having done a problematic smartphone use.
“He problematic smartphone use is a concept that researchers have created to describe a pattern of smartphone use, which shares some similarities with the way other people talk about their behavioral addictionssuch as problem gambling,” study co-author Dr. Nicola Kalk of King’s College London told the Associated Press.
“The characteristics it shares are the loss of control over usethe primacy of the smartphone in their life, so that they spend more time with it than with other meaningful activities or sleeping, that they continue to do so despite being aware of the drawbacks, that they feel a real sense of dysphoria or distress if they can’t be near their smartphone or use it, and that they spend more and more time with it to obtain the same reward,” he added.
A study, published in the journal ‘Acta Paediatrica‘discovered that the young people from 16 to 18 years old who reported problematic smartphone use had the twice as likely to experience anxiety and the three times more likely to suffer from depressioncompared to those who did not have problematic use.
The other study, published in the journal ‘BMJ Mental Health‘, discovered that almost half of adolescents aged 13 to 16 with problematic use reported suffering from anxiety and more than half from symptoms of depression.
More than half of adolescents suffer symptoms of depression
“We found that problematic smartphone use was linked to anxiety, depression and insomnia in two separate adolescent age groups using two different research methods,” said in a statement Ben Carter, professor of medical statistics at King’s College London and first author of both studies.
“By revealing the link between problematic smartphone use and poorer mental health, and demonstrating that young people are aware of this problem and are willing to control its use, “These studies highlight the need for evidence-based interventions to help adolescents who struggle with difficult behaviors around their smartphone use,” he added.
More use, more insomnia
There was a distinction between problematic use and screen time. The number of minutes spent on the phone was not associated with anxiety or depression in older adolescents, but was associated with insomnia.
Although less serious than addiction, the authors say there may one day be enough evidence for doctors to recognize problematic smartphone use as such. Regarding how to curb adolescent use of smartphonesKalk recommends parents sit down with their children to talk about the issue and develop healthy usage habits together at home.
According to both studies, Teens want to spend less time on their phones and most say they have tried to limit their use. “The good news is that teens are thoughtful and insightful about their use: They understand that smartphones have advantages and disadvantages,” Kalk says.
