Teens’ Heavy Cellphone Use Could Signal Unhappiness, Study Finds

The Los Angeles Times reports on a bogus study:

A survey of 575 South Korean high school students found that the top third of users — students who used their phones more than 90 times a day — frequently did so because they were unhappy or bored. They scored significantly higher on tests measuring depression and anxiety than students who used their phones a more sedate 70 times daily.

So think about that for a moment — 70 versus 90 times a day. Who’s going to notice the difference? A perfect example of something that might have statistical significance, but has absolutely no real-world significance because there is virtually no difference that could be detected between the two numbers by any normal person.

There is some understanding that yes, teens today use IM and cell phones as important methods to communicate with their friends. There is nothing wrong with this, although there is certainly the hint that there is if used too much:

For anxious teens, text messaging can become a substitute for face-to-face communication, DeAntonio said. “You want to be sure that you are not reinforcing social isolation,” he said.

Talking to friends via IM or a cell phone is not, by any objective measurement, a socially isolating behavior. In fact, the exact opposite is true — the more you’re communicating (no matter what the method — the method is unimportant), the less socially isolating you are.

So basically, nothing new here, move along. Hence the reason this was presented at a conference and not published in a journal.

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 25 May 2006
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.