IWK Health Centre Department of Psychiatry & Specific Care Clinics, Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, 5850/5980 University Ave., PO Box 9700, Halifax, NS B3K 6R8, Canada; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
Psychiatry Res. 2023 Aug;326:115298. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115298. Epub 2023 Jun 10.
Smartphone use provides a significant amount of screen-time for youth, and there have been growing concerns regarding its impact on their mental health. While time spent in a passive manner on the device is frequently considered deleterious, more active engagement with the phone might be protective for mental health. Recent developments in mobile sensing technology provide a unique opportunity to examine behaviour in a naturalistic manner. The present study sought to investigate, in a sample of 451 individuals (mean age 20.97 years old, 83% female), whether the amount of time spent on the device, an indicator of passive smartphone use, would be associated with worse mental health in youth and whether an active form of smartphone use, namely frequent checking of the device, would be associated with better outcomes. The findings highlight that overall time spent on the smartphone was associated with more pronounced internalizing and externalizing symptoms in youth, while the number of unlocks was associated with fewer internalizing symptoms. For externalizing symptoms, there was also a significant interaction between the two types of smartphone use observed. Using objective measures, our results suggest interventions targeting passive smartphone use may contribute to improving the mental health of youth.
智能手机为年轻人提供了大量的屏幕时间，人们越来越担心它对他们心理健康的影响。虽然在设备上被动地花费时间通常被认为是有害的，但更积极地使用手机可能对心理健康有保护作用。移动感应技术的最新发展为以自然的方式研究行为提供了独特的机会。本研究在 451 名个体（平均年龄 20.97 岁，83%为女性）的样本中进行，旨在探讨设备上的时间（被动使用智能手机的指标）是否与年轻人的心理健康状况恶化有关，以及智能手机的一种主动使用形式（即频繁查看设备）是否与更好的结果有关。研究结果表明，在智能手机上花费的总时间与年轻人更明显的内化和外化症状有关，而解锁次数与内化症状较少有关。对于外化症状，观察到的两种类型的智能手机使用之间也存在显著的交互作用。使用客观的测量方法，我们的结果表明，针对被动使用智能手机的干预措施可能有助于改善年轻人的心理健康。
