One in four young people 'addicted' to smartphones: Study

Almost a quarter of young people are so dependent on ir smartphones that y feel panicky or upset when phone is unavailable, according to a global study.

By analysing literature published since 2011 when smartphones first became widespre, range of studies showed that 10-30 per cent of children and young people used ir smartphones in a dysfunctional way.

This means an aver of 23 per cent of m were showing problematic smartphone us (PSU), according to researchers from King's College London in UK.

PSU was defined as any behaviour linked to smartphones that has features of an diction, such as feeling panicky or upset when phone is unavailable, y said.

behaviour is also characterised by people finding it difficult to control amount of time spent on phone, and using phone to detriment of or enjoyable activities.

study, published in journal BMC Psychiatry, is first to investigate prevalence of PSU in children and young people at this scale, summarising findings from 41 studies that researched a total of 41,871 teenrs and young people.

41 studies included 30 from Asia, nine from Europe and two America. As many as 55 per cent of participants were female, and young women in 17 to 19-year-old group were most likely to have PSU.

researchers also investigated links of this of smartphone us and mental health, and found a consistent association between PSU and poor measures of mental health in terms of depressed mood, anxiety, stress, poor sleep quality and educational attainment.

"In order to determine wher PSU should be classified as a behavioural diction we need longitudinal data looking at PSU in relation to more objective health outcomes, as well as evidence that people with PSU struggle to moderate ir use," said first author Samantha Sohn from King's College London.

"Our review assesses effects t just of heavy use, but of dysfunctional smartphone use, and by looking at an 'dicted' pattern of behaviour towards smartphones we have established correlations between this of dysfunctional behaviour and poorer mental health outcomes," said Ben Carter, also from King's College London.

Over past dece re has been an increase in smartphone use among children and young people and this has occurred at same time as a rise in common mental disorders in same group, researchers ted.

To help clarify possible association between smartphone use and mental health in children and young people, researchers investigated patterns of smartphone-related behaviour, rar than smartphone use per se.

"Smartphones are here to stay and re is a need to understand prevalence of problematic smartphone us. We don't kw wher it is smartphone itself that can be dictive or apps that people use," said Nicola Kalk from King's College London.

RE | Youngsters dicted to smartphones, become 'panicky' when denied access, reveals study