Researchers at the University of Messina in Italy found that excessive smartphone use harms cognitive performance and psychological well-being. During the study, they found that an unwillingness to disconnect from phones is often linked to loneliness and low self-esteem, the publication RsyPost reported.
Researchers Rosa Fabio, Alessia Stracuzzi, and Riccardo Lo Faro examined the relationship between endless smartphone screen time and cognitive abilities. The team also compared phone addiction with measures of mental health.
The work of Italian researchers continues a series of studies on nomophobia. The term was coined in 2010. It refers to the fear of being without a phone and is short for the phrase “no mobile phone phobia.”
What scientists have learned
A large share of people in industrialized regions own smartphones. For some, the fear of being without them becomes a serious problem. Nomophobia has many negative consequences.
Italian researchers analyzed the effects of this dependency using a sample of 111 participants aged 18 to 65. One-third of the group were college students, while the rest were workers. The team collected data from each participant’s phone through the SocialStatsApp service, which aggregates information about social media usage, including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Participants completed a short version of the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS-SV) and the General Psychological Well-Being Index.
In the first stage of the research, the team assessed each participant’s level of smartphone use.
In the second, experimental phase, the group was asked to limit smartphone use to one hour a day for three consecutive days.
In the third stage, everyone was allowed to use smartphones at their own discretion for seven consecutive days.
A day before and a day after the experimental phase, researchers assessed the participants’ working memory, attention, self-control, and auditory and visual reaction times.
The results showed that participants with higher levels of smartphone addiction often did not adhere to the restrictions set by the team. They spent more time on their phones than they had promised at all three stages.
What threatens nomophobes?
Researchers found that participants with higher levels of smartphone addiction generally had poorer memory, lower self-control, and slower visual and auditory responses.
Ultimately, participants with a high level of smartphone dependence scored lower on the Overall Psychological Well-Being Index.
The team concluded that people who are overly dependent on smartphones face serious everyday risks, particularly reduced self-control, impaired brain function, and slowed reaction times.
In contrast, those who are less attached to their phones report better quality of life and psychological well-being.
Some potential participants declined to take part after learning about the “strict” phone-usage restrictions. The research team called this a limitation, since people with extremely high levels of smartphone dependence were effectively excluded — a point the team urged future researchers to address.
