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“Mobile Phone Addiction: Symptoms, Impacts and Causes - A Review.”
Kiran S.
Department of Industrial Engineering &
Management
BMS College of Engineering,
Bengaluru, India
Sanjana JS.
Department of Industrial Engineering &
Management
BMS College of Engineering,
Bengaluru, India
Prof. Reddy Naik J.
Department of Industrial Engineering &
Management
BMS College of Engineering,
Bengaluru, India
Abstract -
Mobile phones are requisites for many young adults,
but such devices may negatively affect their mental
health and well-being. Rapid development in mobile
phone technologies provides a rich selection of
features and improved portability that increases the
prevalence of mobile phone use, especially among
young adults. They often develop attachment toward
mobile phones, seeking the proximity of mobile
phones and experiencing distress on separation 1. A
multitude of studies have documented that mobile
phone addiction would bring about negative impacts
on physical and mental health as well as social
adaption such as academic problems, interpersonal
problems, health issues, depression, anxiety, and even
suicidal ideation2. In India alone, it is estimated that
about 530 million smart phone users will be active by
the end of 2018 3. The worldwide mobile phone
addiction related issues are growing at an alarming
pace. Such issues need immediate addressing. In this
paper, various symptoms, impacts and causes of
mobile phone addiction is summarized. Various
journals dealing with similar issues are reviewed in
this paper.
Keywords- Mobile Phone Addiction, depression, stress,
health problems, social network.
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Mobile phone addiction (MPA), a widely prevalent but
unspoken issue, is silently creeping into the youth of
many countries. Mobile phones are widely hailed for
their technological benefit to mankind, the ease it creates
in doing daily chores, and most of all, bridging of
information as well as communication gaps among
people. Rapid development of mobile phone
technologies provides a rich selection of functions and
improved portability that increases the prevalence of
mobile phone use, especially among young people.4
Mobile phones, especially smart phones, are being
increasingly used over recent years in both developed
and developing countries .Despite offering great
convenience, mobile phones can exert negative
influences, induce extreme emotional changes and even
cause serious physiological reactions, giving rise to the
phenomenon popularly known as “mobile phone
addiction” 5.
Mobile phone is considered a double-edged sword for
young adults. On one hand, utilization of mobile phone
facilitates young people to increase their social
communication frequency, improve their relationships
and make new friends. On the other hand, improper use
of mobile phone influences young people negatively.
Specifically, improper mobile phone use can reduce
individual’s concentration and the amount of
information received during a typical class, block face-
to-face communication, and even lead to mental or
physical stress. It is estimated that prevalence of mobile
phone addicts ranges from 0% to 38% of mobile phone
users across cultures and societies, suggesting at least
62% of mobile phone users are with possible
addiction.5A plethora of research and study to
understand the effects of MPA on young adults has been
done. For instance the research done by BMC assesses
some of the self-perceived effect of increasing mobile
phone usage on the well-being of college going students.
Symptoms and the various common health effects was
studied.6
Another research paper “Mobile phone to youngsters:
necessity or addiction” studied about the addictive
behaviors of mobile phone users. The purpose of similar
International Conference on Trends in Industrial & Value Engineering, Business and Social Innovation
ISBN : 978-16-35357-55-4 © 2018 DSCE, Department of IEM .
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Table 1: Average hours of mobile phone usage per day
studies is to identify the prevalence of MPA in young
people, and the understanding of its effects on one’s
daily life.
2.0 MOBILE PHONE ADDICTION
Constant dependency on one’s mobile phone, to cater to
psychological needs and extraneous necessities, causing
a constant attachment to ones gadget, leading to loss of
productivity and developing chronic side effects such as
depression, loneliness, lack of social behavior, loss of
sound sleep and various health issues: is termed as MPA.
Mobile phones are hailed as one of the greatest
inventions of the 20th century. But with technological
advances, human dependency increased and led to an
irreplaceable position of a phone in our daily life. MPA
is a behavioral form of addiction just like any other, but
different from substance addiction.
According to a report by New York Times (2017) 7, both
adults and teens check their mobile phones 150 times a
day, that is every 6 minutes and send an average of 110
texts per day. A recent Huffington post article reported
the following statistics 8:
92 percent of teens go online daily, and
24 percent say they are online “almost
constantly.”
76 percent of teens use social media (81
percent of older teens, 68 percent of teens
ages 13 and 14).
71 percent of teens use Facebook, 52
percent use Instagram, 41 percent use
Snap chat, 33 percent use Twitter.
77 percent of parents say their teens get
distracted by their devices and don’t pay
attention when they’re together.
59 percent of parents say they feel their
teen is addicted to their mobile device.
50 percent of teens say they feel
addicted to their mobile phone.
These statistics show the urgent need to understand and
address MPA related issues before it reaches a stage of
Digital Detox.
The various functions of a mobile phone, the
symptoms/addictive behaviors, and the impacts, causes
and treatments of MPA are discussed in this paper.
2.1 FUNCTIONS OF A MOBILE PHONE
Mobile phones comprise of various features and
functions to enable users to experience ease in doing
desired tasks and activities. Field observations and a
survey were conducted to gauge the level of engagement
that Elon University students have towards their devices
and with each other in face-to-face situations. For this
study, the author tried to capture a sample that is an
accurate representation of the individuals affected by cell
phone addiction. A survey of Elon University students
between the ages of 18 and 22 was conducted. There
were 65 responses to survey questions that were
designed to gauge cell phone habits, primary uses of cell
phones, and feelings and emotions individuals possess
without their cell phone9. According to their survey,
when asked about the primary usage of their cell phone,
Texting was mentioned by 83.1 % as most used feature,
followed by calling at 10.8% and Social apps at 6.1%.
Another journal study investigated indicators of smart
phone use, smart phone addiction, and their associations
with demographic and health behavior-related variables
in young people by collecting sample data of 1,519
students from 127 Swiss vocational school classes.10
International Conference on Trends in Industrial & Value Engineering, Business and Social Innovation
ISBN : 978-16-35357-55-4 © 2018 DSCE, Department of IEM .
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On analyzing the above data, people spend around 2-
3hrs on social networking feature of a smart phone,
which is the maximum duration of use on a daily basis,
followed by music, phone calls and texting10. This
accounts to 80% of all the time spent on usage. If this
can be reduced, it will have an optimal effect on the
overall addiction level.
2.2 SYMPTOMS OF MPA
Overuse of mobile phone leads to behavioral addiction
(MPA). This reflects in the everyday behavioral pattern
of the patients. The various mobile phone addiction
symptoms are summarized from various journal papers
pertaining to the aforesaid issue.
They are 11:
Increased longing to use one’s mobile phone
when abstained from its usage.
Constant thoughts of using a mobile phone.
Aggressive repulsive behavior towards
switching off the phone when constrained to.
Delay in arrival to committed tasks, due to
prolonged usage of phone in unnecessary
situations.
Productivity and performance are hindered and
retarded due to usage of a phone.
Prefer social and personal connect using a phone
as a medium thus eliminating real world contact.
Lack of sound sleep due to prolonged phone
usage.
Seeking to a mobile phone as a source of
comfort during times of emotional distress and
loneliness.
Failure to abstain from mobile usage even by
constant attempts.
Loss of time sense due to usage.
Constant need to check notifications, text
messages etc.
Ignoring face to face conversations and looking
into digital displays when conversing to
someone.
Feeling nervous, moody and anxious when
abstained from usage.
Constant urge to use mobile phone when
driving, riding, crossing road etc.
Respond to texts, calls even if the environment
is unfavorable to receive/text a reply.
According to the researches, if anyone possess the
following traits, they can be considered to be addicted to
Mobile Phones in some way or another.
2.3 IMPACTS
MPA has a huge impact on the overall behavior of an
individual. These impacts are in correlation to the
symptoms and causes. A research in an urban college, in
Hydrabad6 was done for two months (July and August,
2012), with 459 respondents in total of which 75%
students were under 20 years of age. The male to female
ratio was 1:1, with 63.8% of them belonging to an urban
background and the rest were from rural areas. The
survey conducted showed that 96.1% of students had a
mobile phone and on an average 88.2 % of them spent
about half an hour on their mobile phones daily.
International Conference on Trends in Industrial & Value Engineering, Business and Social Innovation
ISBN : 978-16-35357-55-4 © 2018 DSCE, Department of IEM .
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Their survey showed the following results:
From the above survey, it comes to light that alarming
percentage of the student community in professional
colleges, in urban settings,in our country(India), do
suffer from symptoms of both mental and physical
nature due to overuse of mobile devices.
Some more serious long term issues that require
immediate attention are:
Emotional and mental stress.
Depression.
Lonliness.
Social effects such as neglecting face to face
conversations, ruining relationship quality.
Social anxiety.
Negative emotions.
Male infertility due to RF radiation damages
retarding spermatogenesis in the male
reporductive system.12.
Brain related problems such as tumors, seizures
due to harmful radiation13.
Obesity.
Distraction.
2.4 REASONS AND CAUSES
Addiction as a whole is caused by various psychological
reasons that uncontrollably, control the dependency of a
person to various needs. One such addiction is MPA.
There are a number of reasons that cause MPA. With
reference to few journals, some of the main reasons are
listed below:
Constant urge to explore and experience new
things, leading to excessive use of newer
technologies.
Seek validation and agreement on a social
platform such as Facebook, Instagram, etc.
To develop new connections/friendship with
people on social platforms: One of the main
reasons for youngsters to seek to social
networking sites is the hope to explore and
expand their friends circle. Hence this tends to
form into an addiction.
Due to the enhancement in technology, our
mobile phones can do much more than they ever
did. From texting to keeping ones work related
files; safe and secure, smartphones are tending
to become inevitable in our daily lives. Hence
they tend to become ones extended self.
The way smartphone applications are designed,
has a strong effect on human brain. They are
designed to attract users, and increase the
application outreach. This is achieved by various
marketing and designing techniques14. This
causes a huge attachment to one’s phone.
False contentment; a feeling of being happy and
content with the joy derived from electronic
means and avoiding real contact with people.
Seeking rewards as such as points in games,
likes on one’s social profile etc. leads to false
sense of reward, and causes continual
requirement to achieve such rewards.
International Conference on Trends in Industrial & Value Engineering, Business and Social Innovation
ISBN : 978-16-35357-55-4 © 2018 DSCE, Department of IEM .
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Table 4: Estimation of risk proportion of users
Lack of stricter laws regarding availability of
mobile phones to teenagers.
Lack of strict checks by parents on the excessive
usage of phones by their children, and lack of
proper guidance.
2.5 TREATMENT
On detailed analysis of few journal papers, below are
somesatisfactory remedies to combat MPA.
Create unplugged zone: disconnect all devices,
switch off Wi-Fi and keep them away or out of
reach.
Delete unnecessary applications and the ones
that tend to be addictive.
Schedule a time slot to limit your usage to
within this span.
Stop replacing phones as means of
entertainment.
Develop productive habits to combat loneliness.
Seek advice, guidance and help in difficult
situations.
Explore new avenues in life; seek physical
presence of friends and family.
Develop new working hours and accommodate
various tasks strategically to prevent long hours
of loneliness that may lead to MPA.
Always prefer tasks that do not require the use
of a mobile phone in any form as such, even if it
may be difficult.
3.0 DISCUSSION
Addiction to technology based devices such as mobiles
phones are growing at a rapid pace, especially among
youngsters. This has various implications on the overall
behavior of the individual. The journals referred to study
the effect of MPA, summarized various symptoms,
reasons, impacts and treatment.
Various research studies were conducted on young
people between theage group 14-30. The primary effect
of mobile phone addiction was found to be headache and
anger management issues. But they failed to throw light
on more serious and dangerous issues such as
Depression and Anxiety.
On analyzing the duration and event of usage of mobile
phones, it was found that the phone was maximum used
for social networking, music, and phone calls. The
primary use of a cell phone is to communicate through
phone calls. But the advent of technology has introduced
a plethora of features and functions that mentally induce
addictive effect on the human brain, leading to MPA.
These features may be a boon, but with inappropriate
limit of usage, they turn out to be a bane.
The researches done do not aim to identify the effects of
individual applications on the level of addiction. It also
fails to weigh the effect of personal commitments (i.e.
need to keep constant check on committed work/family)
that lead to excessive usage of a mobile phone, leading
to addiction.
The researches do not highlight the realistic effect of
MPA on one’s Daily Productivity. The causes of
addiction are fairly general and vary from person to
person. The impacts are also person dependent. The
study identified that 15.4% of users are at a huge risk of
MPA, and 5.1% are already addicted.17. These numbers
vary largely based on the region of study and age group
and time of study.
The authors of this review paper have amalgamated few
causes, impacts and reasons collectively from various
journals reviewed. The key importance of this review
study is to provide the overlay of the process of MPA,
and suggest remedies by identifying appropriate
symptoms. This review study also throws light onto the
urgent need by Government and Educational institutions
to impose stricter laws governing the use of mobile
phones by young adults, thus preventing them from a
prospective addictive scenario, in the near future. The
responsibility of parents and well-wishers on the well -
being of their wards, is highly important to prevent MPA
by constant check and corrective measure. On the whole,
technology is the edge of a two-sided sword, fancied
well; it will lead humanity to greater heights else it will
spell disaster. The responsibility of individuals on
themselves is huge, and being responsible is the first step
to prevent addiction. One must remember MPA is a slow
International Conference on Trends in Industrial & Value Engineering, Business and Social Innovation
ISBN : 978-16-35357-55-4 © 2018 DSCE, Department of IEM .
Personal use is permitted. all rights reserved by the author, republication/redistribution requires author permission.
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but dangerous disease that’s creeping into our daily
lives. Everyone associated with a victim are responsible
to extend support to them, to combat addiction.
4.0 CONCLUSION
Mobile Phone addiction is a highly secretive disease
that’s affecting many phone users these days. The
purpose of a phone since its invention has changed a lot
and the now cellular devices that we call smart phones
are widely hailed as one of the best inventions of this
century17. But as we incline towards introducing
technology into every activity of our life, we become
more and more dependent. This dependency leads to
addiction. Once MPA has taken over the psychological
behavior of a victim, immense effort is needed to
rehabilitate the person. Every technology has a down
side and as mankind, we need to learn to adapt and deal
with these issues more effectively and efficiently. The
purpose of this study was to compare few journals and
analyze the content. By this study, the authors threw
light on some drawbacks of these papers. The gap
between the research subjects and the current subjects of
research were understood. The need for changing
approaches to address MPA is highly commendable.
The issue of addiction can be combated only through the
cooperation of various bodies of people such as
educational institutions, Government, Workplace etc.
The rightful way to maintain a synergic balance between
technology and its negative effects is to understand its
harmfulness, and develop self-control and not give in to
nugatory temptations.
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International Conference on Trends in Industrial & Value Engineering, Business and Social Innovation
ISBN : 978-16-35357-55-4 © 2018 DSCE, Department of IEM .
Personal use is permitted. all rights reserved by the author, republication/redistribution requires author permission.
ICIVBS - 2018
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