Researchers at Hanyang University Medical Center analyzed data from 54,809 adolescents across the country to find correlations between daily smartphone use and outcomes such as stress, depression, suicide, addiction problems and phone addiction.
The researchers used 2017 and 2020 data from the state-run online survey on risk behavior of Korean youth.
A study published in PLOS One found a curvilinear relationship between smartphone usage time and health problems after four hours. Teens who used their phones two to four hours a day showed signs of smartphone addiction, but not such extreme health effects.
“Phone use up to four hours per day was significantly associated with perceived stress, suicidal ideation, and substance use,” the researchers wrote in the study. These results were found after taking into account other factors such as gender, age and socioeconomic background.
For teens who used smartphones more than four hours a day, the numbers were much higher for these factors. In them, a greater predilection for stress, sleep problems, depressive symptoms, suicidal thoughts for planning and attempting suicide was observed. They were 66% more likely to drink alcohol and 90% more likely to smoke than the average child. They were also twice as likely to be phone dependent and overweight.
But teens who used their smartphones for one to two hours a day actually suffered fewer negative health effects than those who didn’t use them at all. As you might expect, smartphone usage in 2020 was much higher than in 2017.
According to the researchers, this study could help create guidelines on the use of smartphones by teenagers.
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2023-12-09 13:40:25
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