- The study analyzed 54,809 Korean adolescents, highlighting a rise in smartphone usage from 2017 to 2020.
- Excessive use (over 4 hours/day) is correlated with stress, sleep issues, depression, and more.
- Findings emphasize the need for balanced smartphone guidelines for youth.
Researchers at Hanyang University Medical Center, Korea, aimed to explore the link between smartphone usage and adolescent adverse behavioral health outcomes, using data from the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey collected in 2017 and 2020.
The analysis, which included 54,809 participants in 2020, investigated the impact of varying daily smartphone use (ranging from non-use to over 8 hours) on adverse health outcomes such as stress, sleep issues, depression, suicidal thoughts, substance use, and smartphone overdependence. The study found that the average smartphone usage among adolescents increased from 2017 to 2020, with a notable increase in usage of more than 2 hours per day.
A significant curvilinear relationship emerged, showing heightened adverse health outcomes in those using smartphones for more than 4 hours daily. This finding is crucial for developing balanced smartphone usage guidelines for adolescents.
Ref: Cha, Jong Ho, Young-Jin Choi, Soorack Ryu, and Jin-Hwa Moon. 2023. “Association between Smartphone Usage and Health Outcomes of Adolescents: A Propensity Analysis Using the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey.” PLOS ONE 18 (12): e0294553. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0294553.
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