Is Your Phone Killing You? The Answer’s Unclear

Experts respond with skepticism to a recent New York Times story

Photo by Warren Wong on Unsplash

In Microprocessing, columnist Angela Lashbrook aims to improve your relationship with technology every week. Microprocessing goes deep on the little things that define your online life today, to give you a better tomorrow.

Last week, the New York Times published a provocative Well piece about smartphones and death that laid out some fascinating points, but it probably belonged in the Opinion section. The article, packaged with the headline “Putting Down Your Phone May Help You Live Longer,” draws on recent research to suggest that smartphone use causes a spike in the stress hormone cortisol, perhaps leading to a chronic problem that ultimately shortens one’s life span.

Sure, this could be true. Chronic stress is associated with serious health problems, “including depression, obesity, metabolic syndrome, Type 2 diabetes, fertility issues, high blood pressure, heart attack, dementia and stroke,” as the article notes. But right now, we simply don’t have the research to justify freaking people out about their smartphones. We’re missing crucial information that makes a connection between phone use and chronic stress clear.

“The author makes a very strong claim, a rather headline-grabbing claim, that as a scientist I immediately rolled my eyes at.”

I talked to several scientists for this story, most of whom study how people are affected by internet use. All of them, to varying degrees, expressed questions and in some cases concerns about the Times piece.

“I don’t think anyone can prove that phone use causes stress,” says Tamara Afifi, a professor of interpersonal health communication at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an author of one of the studies quoted in the Times piece. “There is indeed a positive correlation. But I think we need more research to prove causation, at least for chronic stress.”

“The author makes a very strong claim, a rather headline-grabbing claim, that as a scientist I immediately rolled my eyes at,” says Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, a psychology professor and a co-director of…