Drop that Phone!
Adults worldwide use their phone excessively. This excessive use of phones can negatively impact one’s thoughts, sense of well-being and feelings. Alarmingly, it can also contribute to anxiety, depression, sleep issues and loneliness. In addition, those diagnosed with mood disorders such as depression are speculated to have more risk of developing an addiction. Culture can have a huge influence on smart phone addiction, so the purpose of this study was to explore the prevalence of depression and cellphone usage for the Middle Eastern population.
This study in Saudi Arabia involved collecting data to assess the participant’s smartphone addiction and depression on a scale, as well as their personal attributes. The participants within the experiment are eighteen-years or older. Attributes assessed included age, gender, education completed, financial income and home region. To determine the participant’s level of smartphone addiction, a Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV) was used. This assessment consists of ten items that are rated on a six-point scale; where a rate of six indicates strong agreement (stronger addiction to smartphone) whereas a rate of one would suggest strong disagreement. This scale is known as the Likert Scale. Any participant with a percentage mean score greater than 53 % were likely smartphone addicts. To assess the depression levels of the participants, the Beck’s Depression Inventory consisting of 20 items on a point scale- higher results indicated higher depression levels (0 – 60, where sixty indicated higher depression). The values obtained were used to construct regression models.
The response rate decreases with the increase in age groups; the individuals tested were mostly women. A large portion of individuals tested were educated in universities whereas the latter were high-school students. Both variables showed a relation of one increasing proportionally in response to the other. Older groups seem to not have such a significant degree of depression in comparison with younger groups. Level of addiction to smartphone devices and adolescents in school are both key factors that resulted higher levels of smartphone addiction scores.
All in all, smartphone addiction is directly correlated to depression. Those who have lower education and are younger, are more susceptible to depression. Therefore, this is world-wide issue that needs to be solved through further investigations and studies.
Source:
Alhassan, A. A., Alqadhib, E. M., Taha, N. W., Alahmari, R. A., Salam, M., & Almutairi, A. F. (2018). The relationship between addiction to smartphone usage and depression among adults: A cross sectional study. BMC Psychiatry, 18(1). doi:10.1186/s12888-018-1745-4
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