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Researchers Link Excessive Smartphone Use to Addiction-Like Symptoms

Experts warn that compulsive smartphone habits are driving depression, sleep loss and social withdrawal, prompting calls for policy reform.

FILE - A smartphone displays the apps for Facebook and Messenger in New Orleans, Aug. 11, 2019.

Overview

  • A global survey led by University of Toronto’s Jay Olson found that smartphone behaviors cross into problematic territory when they disrupt daily life and mimic compulsive checking seen in behavioral addictions.
  • Studies from McGill and Toronto universities associate high smartphone engagement with declines in mental health, including increased depression risk, poorer sleep quality and reduced concentration.
  • Experts highlight that young adults face elevated vulnerability because many have grown up with constant smartphone access and lack experience of life without the devices.
  • Clinicians such as Venture Academy therapist Gary Su report teens showing extreme social withdrawal, strained family relationships and exposure to online harms due to uncontrolled phone use.
  • Researchers and therapists are calling for interventions like school cellphone bans and social media age limits even as debate continues over classifying phone overuse as an official DSM addiction.