Problematic Smartphone Use: Addiction or Compulsion?
Opinions are strong, but the science is far from settled
Smartphone use has gotten out of hand. So say a lot of smartphone users, anyway. In a Pew Research Center survey, 54% of teens ages 13–17 say they spend too much time on their phones, 31% say their phone use sometimes or often distracts them in class or at work, and 40% say they feel anxious when they don’t have their phone with. Interestingly, only 36% of parents see their own phone use as excessive, yet 39% admit their phones distract them.
Smartphones have been blamed for everything from social isolation to cutting into teen sleep time. The mere presence of one ties up cognitive resources, even when a person is trying to ignore it, one study found. In other research, heavy smartphone use was associated with reduced functionality in a part of adolescent brains related to decision-making and rational thought.
Many studies like these describe heavy users as addicted to smartphones.
But the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the official guidebook for psychiatric diagnoses released in 2013, does not view smartphones as addictive. The manual separates behavioral and substance-use problems for the first time, but online gambling is the only…
