A Double-Edged Impact of Social Smartphone Use on Smartphone Addiction: A Parallel Mediation Model

Abstract

Evidence supports predictive roles of non-social smartphone use for smartphone addiction, but the relationship of social smartphone use and smartphone addiction is unclear. This study explored whether social smartphone use has a double-edged impact on smartphone addiction. Using data from a sample of 909 Chinese undergraduates, we tested a parallel mediation model that considered online social support and realistic social support as mediators. As predicted, social smartphone use weakened smartphone addiction through realistic social support and contributed to smartphone addiction through online social support. Moreover, we tested the moderating role of agreeableness in the mediation path of online social support. Agreeableness only moderated the indirect effects. Specifically, the predictive effects of online social support on smartphone addiction was greater for lower rather than higher agreeableness. The results suggest that social needs play an important role in the formation of smartphone addiction. Several limitations and implications are also discussed herein.

Influences of Playfulness on Smartphone Dependency among Upper Grades of Korean Elementary Schoolers

“…It is also expected that respondents with high social engagement playfulness more frequently use Facebook and LINE, i.e., social smartphone use. Previous studies reported a positive relationship between social smartphone use and smartphone dependency because in social smartphone use, people can make new friends without in-person communication, which can decrease social anxiety, enhance social comfort, and easily increase their number of friends, and this notion supports the finding of the current study [ 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ].…”

The Influence of Augmented Reality Face Filter Addiction on Online Social Anxiety: A Stimulus-Organism-Response Perspective

“…The effect of agreeableness on ARA behavior in social networking (H2) was rejected in this study. Individuals who agree easily tend to have empathy in their real-world friendships (Chang et al, 2022;Getzmann et al, 2021;Jeon et al, 2018). Agreeable individuals also have good personal relationships in social networks, as well as in real life (Chang et al, 2022).…”

“…Individuals who agree easily tend to have empathy in their real-world friendships (Chang et al, 2022;Getzmann et al, 2021;Jeon et al, 2018). Agreeable individuals also have good personal relationships in social networks, as well as in real life (Chang et al, 2022). Therefore, the individual does not consider social networking as the only way to fulfill one's social needs (Chang et al, 2022).…”

“…Agreeable individuals also have good personal relationships in social networks, as well as in real life (Chang et al, 2022). Therefore, the individual does not consider social networking as the only way to fulfill one's social needs (Chang et al, 2022). This type of individual tends to use social networks only as a supporting medium in maintaining the social relationships they already have in the real world (Chang et al, 2022;Getzmann et al, 2021;Jeon et al, 2018).…”

“…Therefore, the individual does not consider social networking as the only way to fulfill one's social needs (Chang et al, 2022). This type of individual tends to use social networks only as a supporting medium in maintaining the social relationships they already have in the real world (Chang et al, 2022;Getzmann et al, 2021;Jeon et al, 2018). In addition, individuals who agree easily also have a tendency not to upload content considered inappropriate or potentially deceptive (Miller, 2020).…”