Smartphone Addiction and Associated Health Outcomes in Adult Populations: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Background: Smartphones play a critical role in increasing human–machine interactions, with many advantages. However, the growing popularity of smartphone use has led to smartphone overuse and addiction. This review aims to systematically investigate the impact of smartphone addiction on health outcomes. Methods: The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were used to carry out the systematic review. Five electronic databases including Medline, Web of Science, PsycINFO, PubMed, and Scopus were searched to identify eligible studies. Eligible studies were screened against predetermined inclusion criteria and data were extracted according to the review questions. This review is registered in PROSPERO (CRD42020181404). The quality of the articles was assessed using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Quality Assessment Tool for Observational Cohort and Cross-Sectional Studies. Results: A total of 27 of 2550 articles met the inclusion criteria. All of the studies were cross-sectional and focused on physical, mental, and neurological health outcomes. The majority of the studies focused on mental health outcomes and consistent associations were observed between smartphone addiction and several mental health outcomes. Anxiety and depression were commonly found to mediate mental health problems. A wide range of physical health sequelae was also associated with smartphone addiction. Furthermore, there was an association between smartphone addiction and neurological disorders. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that there are consistent associations between smartphone addiction and physical and mental health, especially mental health. Social awareness campaigns about smartphone addiction and its impact on physical and mental health are needed. Further studies, especially randomized controlled trials, are warranted to validate the impacts of smartphone addiction.

Smartphone Addiction Prevalence and Its Association on Academic Performance, Physical Health, and Mental Well-Being among University Students in Umm Al-Qura University (UQU), Saudi Arabia

“…The smartphone addiction could be represented as nomophobia [ 23 ], phubbing [ 24 , 25 ] or social media addiction [ 26 ]. A recent systematic review revealed that smartphone addiction could be detrimental to physical and mental health [ 27 ], interestingly, another review reported that social media addiction found a negative but small relationship between social media addiction measures and well-being [ 28 ].…”

Effects of Weight-Related Self-Stigma and Smartphone Addiction on Female University Students’ Physical Activity Levels

“…Smartphone addiction (SPA) may be common among young adults, in particular college students, in part because of interests to develop social relationships in virtual networks, the existence of several online platforms to make such relationships, and skills in using modern technologies via their phones [ 31 , 32 ]. SPA has been associated with poor well-being, especially psychological (e.g., poor sleep quality, feelings of loneliness, mental fatigue, role conflict, and depression) [ 31 , 33 ]. SPA may also lead to somatic problems such as headache, painful neck and wrist, and visual impairment [ 34 ].…”

Problematic Mobile Phone Use and Life Satisfaction Among University Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Shanghai, China

“…However, a few other terms have been used to describe this phenomenon: problematic mobile phone use, mobile phone addiction, excessive mobile phone use, and compensatory mobile phone use ( 9 ). PMPU is characterized by excessive attention and uncontrolled dedication to one's cell phone use ( 10 ).…”