Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies

DOI: 10.54254/2753-7048/34/20231851

The Impact of Mobile Phone Use on Students' Mental Health

TsangSuiRain Lui1,a,*
1
Aquinas International Academy, State of California, United State
a. [email protected]
*corresponding author

Abstract: The use of mobile phones is becoming more and more widespread, and the time for
students to contact mobile phones for the first time is getting earlier and earlier, so it has
become necessary and urgent to pay attention to the psychological problems caused by mobile
phones for students. This article analyzes the impact of smartphone apps on students' mental
health. This paper argues that overuse or incorrect use can cause students to have
psychological problems such as anxiety and depression. This may be due to factors such as
lack of communication, family influences, etc. Based on this, this article suggests that society
should increase the relevant publicity for the correct use of mobile phones. Schools should
pay attention to the different psychological problems of different students and provide
targeted counseling. Families should communicate more and guide students to take the
initiative to express themselves. Students should learn self-control and at the same time,
develop good living habits to avoid psychological problems.

Keywords: Mobile phone, students' mental health, family education

1. Introduction
The smartphone become widely used in the modern day and is a crucial part of life. According to
Statista, the current number of smartphone users in the world today is 6.92 billion, meaning 85.82%
of the world's population owns a smartphone [1]. The popularizing rate of the phone is significant in
5 five years. Global smartphone users increased by 49.89% (2017-2022) [1]. The boom of
smartphones reshape people in various ways. Although the development of smartphones has made
people more convenient, it also brings problematic smartphone use to children and adolescents. The
impact of problematic smartphone use has been taken seriously in the current digital era. Therefore,
understanding the consequences of problematic smartphone use (PSU) on adolescents is critical. One
of the existing papers has shed light on the relationship between cell phone and wireless device use
and mental health outcomes in adolescents. The results of the review suggest that increased cell phone
and wireless device use, especially at bedtime, appears to be associated with poorer mental health
outcomes in adolescents [2]. The causes and behaviors of problematic smartphone use in mainland
China have huge differences because of the Chinese cultural perspective and the educational system.
The exploration of problematic smartphone use (PSU) holds paramount importance due to its
widespread prevalence and profound repercussions, particularly among children and adolescents.
Remarkably, one out of every four youngsters grapples with PSU, exhibiting characteristics akin to
behavioral addiction [3]. This compels us to delve deeper into the consequential aftermath. PSU
intertwines with mental well-being, yielding ramifications such as depression, anxiety, heightened
© 2023 The Authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0
(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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DOI: 10.54254/2753-7048/34/20231851

perceived stress levels, and disrupted sleep patterns, underscoring the pressing necessity for a
comprehensive understanding of its implications. PSU possesses the potential to shape the emergence
of psychopathological conditions within younger demographics and instill detrimental behavioral
patterns that persist into adulthood, highlighting its pertinence as a public health concern.
As smartphones assume an indispensable role in our daily lives, the recognition and rectification
of PSU stand as pivotal safeguards for the mental well-being and future trajectories of our youth. By
conducting thorough research and implementing targeted interventions, one can glean insights into
the causal nexus between PSU and mental health, while also formulating strategies to alleviate its
adverse impact on an individual's overall mental well-being and life prospects. This paper seeks to
understand how problematic smartphone use impacts children and adolescents and provides
suggestions to prevent this from happening.

2. Features and Problems of Chinese Children's Mobile Phone Use

2.1. Features
The main characteristics of Chinese smartphones are wide coverage and great influence. The
researcher pointed out that the goals of using a phone are conducting interpersonal communication,
obtaining entertainment, diversion, and relaxation, and receiving monetary compensation for such
things [4]. This research shows the basic targets of using smartphones and represents the outline of
the Chinese smartphone situation. Smartphones in the Chinese market has changed and reshaped
many parts of people's daily life. Precisely, the smartphone is critical because of super apps and the
development of E-commerce. Super apps refer to the biggest and the most influential applications in
mainland China, such as Douyin(TikTok), WeChat, and Alibaba. These apps on phones are important
in daily life and do more than basically function. They promote mobile shopping, payment, delivery
services, and online streaming. They help people in China stay close to others far away through
messaging and video calls, even getting stuff.
In addition, the use of mobile phones in China is full of entertainment, and at the same time, the
development of mobile phones has led to the development of the entertainment industry. There are
many games, social media, and videos to enjoy on them. You can easily play games, check social
media, and watch shows all on your phone. Not just that, Through the use of mobile phones, people
can quickly understand the latest information, greatly increase their information transmission speed,
improve their information acquisition ability, and enrich the content of information. Smartphones in
China give you the latest news. People use apps and websites to know what's happening in the world.
It's super convenient to get news and updates in real-time on your smartphone. The most interesting
fact is that the Chinese are not likely to use Email. According the Statista, Tencent's instant messenger
service WeChat remained the most popular mobile app in China with around 1.07 billion monthly
active users [1]. Its older sibling QQ was the second placeholder with about 776 million MAUs.
Messaging, e-commerce, utility, and video streaming apps occupied the most spots in the top 20 list.
In addition, educational software in China is forced to be created, because of the policies and
circumstances during the time of COVID-19. The Chinese government and technological companies
have to innovate the platforms for students and workers to remotely working. This expands the use
value of mobile phones to another level.

2.2. Problems
While mobile phones bring convenience to life, they will also cause some problems. Especially for
mentally immature students, improper use of mobile phones will cause a series of student learning
and psychological problems. The research created by Serra G. et al indicates problematic smartphone
use habits can significantly impact mental health in various ways, such as superficial approach to

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DOI: 10.54254/2753-7048/34/20231851

learning, distraction, mood modification, loss of interest, isolation, and sleep disturbances [5]. There
may be diverse reasons for problematic smartphone use, such as excessive screen time, addiction, and
a decline in social interaction.
Concentrating on the phone makes it easy to ignore the time, which contributes to excessive screen
time. Excessive screen time may lead to stress out, sleep disturbances, and symptoms of depression
[6]. These negative behaviors may result in big psychological issues and affect the rest of your life.
The progress of the delivery industry and online shopping may also affect children and adolescents
by overmuch consuming desires. Problematic usage patterns like addiction behaviors can lead to
financial problems, harm to relationships with friends and family, and emotional issues [7].
Sometimes, these reactions give rise to bad values and weird personalities.
Online entertainment and social media also can damage intelligence by keeping away from real
life. Reduced face-to-face social interactions due to heavy smartphone use, especially WeChat, which
results in a lack of attention, reduced test scores and memory, and illiterate [8].

3. Suggestions
Understanding the potential problem to causes problematic smartphone use is critical to suggest to
eliminate this. This section is going to discuss how to prevent problematic smartphone use, and how
to help children suffering from problematic smartphone use. To reach this goal, Schools, parents, and
society should work together to help students build a healthy psychological growth environment.

3.1. Expand Advocacy

To begin with, propaganda about the adverse impact of problematic smartphone use is essential for
everyone. Having a great ability to identify the symptoms of problematic smartphone use may assist
children and adolescents especially when undergoing this period. Therefore, the state and the
government should increase relevant publicity to raise students' awareness of the correct and
appropriate use of mobile phones. Given the current situation of students' addiction to mobile phones,
publicity can be carried out through the commonly used apps of students to expand the scope of
publicity.

3.2. Targeted Counseling

As an important place for students' education, schools must pay attention to students' mental health
problems and take appropriate measures to solve students' psychological problems. According to
Baylor University, the lecture is one of the effective methods to acquire knowledge, terms, basic facts,
and simple concepts, which means education plays an important role. Therefore, having classes or
workshops at school or in the community for children and adolescents is critical to enhancing
understanding of smartphones, and emphasizing responsible usage. At the same time, it is necessary
to strengthen psychological counseling in a targeted manner and provide special counseling for
students of different ages and their psychological characteristics. Teachers should encourage students
to express themselves bravely, guide students to speak out, and actively listen, to give more suitable
psychological counseling.

3.3. Value Family Influence

Parents also can be a factor to affects the children's smartphone use pattern. According to Doo, E. Y.
and Kim, J. H., they found that parenting altitude is related to the addiction to cell phones, which
means a good parenting attitude may lead to positive smartphone usage patterns [9]. Therefore, a
good attitude toward parenting does influence children and adolescents. It is better to have rules

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 Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Interdisciplinary Humanities and Communication Studies
DOI: 10.54254/2753-7048/34/20231851

among parents and children, such as the times of video games, the times of family activities, and no
phones allowed period. These rules can help the family be more cohesive. At the same time, it can
also help children avoid psychological problems through a good family atmosphere.

3.4. strengthen self-control

For students themselves, it is necessary to learn and strengthen self-control. According to Shahram
H., self-control can improve your management, such as addiction, resilience, and insistence [10]. The
children and adolescents that had self-control can use the function called time limit for better
arrangement. Setting a limit time is a good way to remind, especially at night when bedtime is coming.
By doing these things, the children and parents can reap many benefits from these actions. It can let
the family absorb all the advantages of the phone and prevent a bad impact.
Another excellent suggestion is to balance life. Exercising 30 minutes five times a week is going
to be healthy. Thus, balancing the time between real life and virtual life refers to the phone. Hanging
out, exercising, meeting friends, and having hobbies like playing a musical instrument, are the most
common activities in real life. A regular and healthy life can prevent or alleviate students'
psychological problems to a certain extent.
4. Conclusions
The mobile phone has quickly blossomed in today's world and with the high rate of people owning
phones, the phone brings uncountable benefits to humans and is convenient. Although the advantages
of the phone are incredibly excellent, the adverse impact on children and adolescents is unneglectable.
It is necessary to understand the positive and negative impact of the smartphone, especially on
adolescents and children. This research has highlighted the significant prevalence of problematic
smartphone use and the potential problems and consequences of it and also emphasizes the need for
measurement.
Firstly, education plays a crucial role in promoting responsible smartphone use. Schools and
communities should offer workshops and lectures to raise awareness and teach effective smartphone
management. Knowing how to face problematic smartphone use is an important skill.
Parents are also a key to the problematic smartphone use. Parents must be actively involved,
maintaining open communication and setting clear rules for smartphone use within the family. A
good negotiation between children and parents can solve many issues. Balancing the time between
real-life and virtual activities is essential for overall well-being, especially sports. Exercising, face-
to-face interactions, and hobbies may promote a good condition of physical health and maintain
mental health.
Lastly, fostering self-control is paramount. Empowering individuals, especially children and
adolescents, with the ability to limit their screen time and make conscious choices about smartphone
use can mitigate the adverse effects of problematic smartphone use.
In sum, the convenience of phones cannot be ignored, but the adverse of problematic smartphone
use is an upcoming issue. Addressing the challenges caused by problematic smartphone use requires
various approaches involving educational institutions, parents, and society as a whole. This research
hopes to retain the positive function of phones and ensure children and adolescents are not going to
be affected by taking action.

References
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phones-are-in-the-world.

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