Contextualizing adolescents’ self-awareness of problematic mobile phone use: a preliminary study

Andrew Karnaze,Traci Marquis-Eydman,Katherine Grevelding,Douglas Mchugh

doi:10.12688/f1000research.51339.1

Abstract

Adolescents engage cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally with smartphones. Growing evidence suggests they struggle to interact with them in moderation, which has been framed in relation to behavioral addiction as problematic mobile phone use. This study contextualized 13-15 year-old adolescents’ self-awareness of problematic mobile phone use. Focus groups were conducted with 11 adolescents who assessed themselves using the problematic use of mobile phones scale. The authors used interpretative phenomenological epistemology as a guiding framework. Audio recordings were analyzed qualitatively using a constant comparison approach. Students agreed or strongly agreed with multiple dimensions of the problematic mobile phone use construct. Four major themes emerged in relation to circumstances, factors, processes, constraints, and opportunities: drivers of excessive smartphone use, with family or friends, barriers to healthier smartphone use, and nighttime habits. Adolescents’ assessment of perceived proper versus problematic mobile phone can inform hypotheses targeted at improving overall wellness and developing healthy habits in adolescence that carry over into young adulthood and beyond.

Highlights

Following the release of the iPhone in 2007, estimated smartphone ownership in the United States has steadily increased to 81% in 2019 and 96% for 18-29 year-olds
While the detrimental effects of problematic mobile phone use on sleep, stress, anxiety, and depression can occur at various ages[2], adolescents comprise a notably vulnerable age group
Nine and six of the eleven participants agreed or strongly agreed with items representing the PUMP dimensions of longer than intended and great deal of time spent, respectively. We found that these phenomena occurred for our 13-15 year-olds when they were interacting with only a select number of social media or texting apps, and this was facilitated by habitual processes of evaluating and responding to notifications or checking and re-checking app content

Summary

Introduction

Following the release of the iPhone in 2007, estimated smartphone ownership in the United States has steadily increased to 81% in 2019 and 96% for 18-29 year-olds (www.pewresearch.org/internet/fact-sheet/mobile/#mobile-phone-ownershipover-time). Mobile phone dependency (a.k.a. problematic mobile phone use) has grown prevalent in keeping with this surge[1,2], and has been framed in relation to behavioral addiction.[3] For the purposes of this study, we used the definition “problematic mobile phone use is a habitual drive or compulsion to continue to repeat a human-technology interaction despite its negative impact on one’s well-being.”[3] Among the general population, determinants and effects of problematic phone use have been studied, screening tools developed, and prevalence of mobile dependency measured.[2,4,5] While the detrimental effects of problematic mobile phone use on sleep, stress, anxiety, and depression can occur at various ages[2], adolescents comprise a notably vulnerable age group This relates to decreased levels of self-control and low resistance to peer pressure. Steinberg and Monahan (2007) noted “susceptibility to peer pressure in adolescence follows an inverted U-shaped curve, increasing during early adolescence, peaking around age 14, and declining thereafter.” [6]

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion