Stress, Anxiety and Smartphone Use
In previous posts, I reviewed research on the use of devices and apps developed for smartphones that can enhance and improve mental health. We tend to see smartphones as a positive technological advancement, and many users cannot imagine life without one. But, is it possible for a device to have the opposite effect on mental health? Can your smartphone make you sick?
A meta-analysis published in 2018 investigated the connection between smartphones and the stress and anxiety of users. Although the terms “stress” and “anxiety” are often used interchangeably, they mean different things in the academic literature. Broadly, one can say that “stress is an immediate response to an external demand, whereas anxiety is more general, future‐oriented, and is typically not attributed to one specific cause” (p. 2). There are different types of stress including social stress, perceived stress, and chronic stress. Stress can be either physiological or psychological in nature: the psychological component can lead to anxiety.
Anxiety, too, can be divided into two types: state anxiety which is a short-term condition and trait anxiety which is a component of personality (also known as neuroticism). For example, if you are anxious about an upcoming exam, this represents state anxiety. Someone with trait anxiety will experience feelings of threat more frequently and in a variety of situations, including situations that may not feel threatening to others.
Why might your smartphone cause stress or anxiety? The authors explained that there is currently no theory to explain the connection. Some people may feel a need to always be available to others via their smartphone, which can cause communication overload. Or, it may be due to other factors.
An important goal of this meta-analysis was to clear up some conflicting findings from prior studies. Some studies show that smartphones increase stress, whereas others find that stress is reduced by smartphone use. Causality between smartphone use and stress is also unknown: do smartphones lead to more stress, or does stress lead to more frequent smartphone use? A similar question exists regarding anxiety and smartphone use.
A total of 37 studies of 21,736 people were included in the meta-analysis. Across these studies the mean, or average, age of participants ranged from late teens to mid-30’s (except for one study). Included studies were conducted across the globe including in Asia, Europe and North America.
Smartphone use was identified as either “problematic” (such as smartphone addiction) or “non-problematic.” Other measures included assessments for stress and anxiety.
Key Findings:
- There was a small-to-medium association between smartphone use and stress and anxiety.
- Problematic phone use had a stronger association with stress and anxiety than non-problematic phone use, although no cause-effect conclusion can be made.
- Gender of participants did not play a significant role, indicating that the stress and anxiety associated with smartphone use was not gender-specific.
- Year of study publication influenced the connection between smartphone use and stress and anxiety. The association was stronger for studies published later, perhaps because more people acquired smartphones in later years. Also, the evolution in smartphone technology, granting access to social media, to email, and to work-related documents, may have impacted the ever-stronger relationship between smartphones and stress and anxiety.
Due to the cross-sectional nature of data in the studies, causal inferences between smartphone use and anxiety and stress could not be made. Further, the authors noted: “it is also difficult to determine if a third variable might be responsible for the relationship between smartphone use and these variables” (p. 9). Experimental studies should be conducted in the future to answer questions about causal relationships and the role of extraneous variables.
Vahedi, Z., & Saiphoo, A. (2018). The association between smartphone use, stress, and anxiety: A meta‐analytic review. Stress and Health, 34(3), 347-358.
©Jennie Dilworth, Ph.D