Youths' Habitual Use of Smartphones Alters Sleep Quality and Memory: Insights from a National Sample of Chinese Students.

Xiaojing Li,Bu Zhong,Siqi Fu,Qiang Fu

doi:10.3390/ijerph18052254

Abstract

A growing body of work has been devoted to studying the smartphone addiction in youths and its impact on their lives, but less is known about the predictors and effects of youth habitual use of smartphones. Guided by social cognitive theory, this study investigates how habitual smartphone use affects sleep quality and everyday memory based on a nationally representative sample of Chinese students (N = 2298). It uses a cluster-randomized sampling with stratification of different areas, consisting of both urban and rural students aged 6–18 years from elementary, middle, and high schools across China. It found that Chinese students exhibited a habitual smartphone use, who were generally confident in using mobile devices, but few had smartphone addiction. Significant gender and age differences were identified concerning the habitual use of smartphone. Specifically, boys demonstrated higher levels of habitual use and smartphone self-efficacy than the girls. High school students showed the highest level of habitual smartphone use compared to those in elementary and middle schools. Smartphone use duration, frequency, and self-efficacy predicted the habitual use, which also led to poorer sleep quality and worse memory outcomes. Prebedtime exposure moderated the relationship between habitual smartphone uses and sleep quality. The results show that students’ habitual smartphone use had a significant impact on their health, cognition and more, even when they exhibited little smartphone addiction. The findings contribute to a better understanding of smartphone impact on school-age youths.

Highlights

Smartphone use by children and adolescents has been growing at exponential rates around the world, including China [1]
Based on a nationally representative sample of Chinese students, it discovers that the youth habitual smartphone use could significantly alter sleep quality and everyday memory
On the basis of a nationally representative sample of Chinese students, this study has discovered that the duration and the frequency of smartphone use are positively associated with the habitual smartphone use

Summary

Introduction

Smartphone use by children and adolescents has been growing at exponential rates around the world, including China [1]. Due to the surge of mobile technology, adolescents spend more and more time on their smartphones every year [2,3]. Prior studies have often treated youth smartphone use like internet addiction behavior, but this may not apply to most young users. A meta-analysis reported that the average prevalence for internet addiction was only 7.02% of the online population, which was based on 113 epidemiological studies with 693,306 subjects from 31 countries that were published in 1996 to 2018 [6]. After analyzing 41 studies involving 42,000 children and young people’s smartphone usage, another meta-analysis study discovered that less than a quarter of them (23%) exhibited a prevalence of smartphone addiction [7].

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Conclusion