SynthesisInternational journal of environmental research and public health2018
Mobile Phone Use and Mental Health. A Review of the Research That Takes a Psychological Perspective on Exposure.
Synthesis in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 95 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
95 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Mapping research on ICT addiction: a comprehensive review of Internet, smartphone, social media, and gaming addictions.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Pooled it
- Impacts of digital social media detox for mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Narra J · 2024Pooled it
- Impact of mobile phones and wireless devices use on children and adolescents' mental health: a systematic review.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Adolescents' interactive electronic device use, sleep and mental health: a systematic review of prospective studies.Journal of sleep research · 2023Pooled it
- Association between Problematic Use of Smartphones and Mental Health in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- The impact of problematic smartphone use on children's and adolescents' quality of life: A systematic review.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2021Pooled it
- Correlations between mobile phone addiction and anxiety, depression, impulsivity, and poor sleep quality among college students: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- Effect of restricting bedtime mobile phone use on sleep, arousal, mood, and working memory: A randomized pilot trial.PloS one · 2020Trial
- The relationship between physical exercise and social media addiction among Chinese university students: a random intercept cross-lagged panel model analysis.BMC psychology · 2026Article
- Association Between Screen Exposure and Insomnia Among Patients With Breast Cancer: Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Optimal Cut-Offs for Digital Addiction Scales as Preliminary Screening Proxies for Psychological Distress Symptoms Among Vietnamese Medical Students: A Single-Centre ROC Curve Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Psychological Issues, Prevalence and Predictors in Senegal: Evidence from the Senegal Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) 2023.Indian journal of psychological medicine · 2026Article
- Digital Sleep Disruption: Unraveling the Network Structure of Technology Use and Sleep Problems Through Network Analysis.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Article
- Social media distrust and turn to artificial intelligence among generation Z: a qualitative model linking digital minimalism and financial discipline with social policy recommendations.Frontiers in artificial intelligence · 2026Article
- The evolution and reconstruction of digital addiction: from compulsive consumption in the internet era to symbiotic dependence in the artificial intelligence era.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Article
- Do Transformers and CNNs Learn Different Concepts of Brain Age?Human brain mapping · 2025Article
- Effect of Art-Based Therapy Among Adolescents with Nomophobia in Selected Junior Colleges.Journal of pharmacy & bioallied sciences · 2025Article
- Unravelling behavioural contributions to IBS risk: evidence from univariate and multivariate Mendelian randomisation.Journal of global health · 2025Article
35 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to carry out a review of observational studies that consider links between mobile phone use and mental health from a psychological or behavioral perspective. Systematic literature searches in PubMed and PsycINFO for articles published until 2017 were done. Exclusion criteria included: papers that considered radiofrequency fields, attention, safety, relational consequences, sexual behavior, cyberbullying, and reviews, qualitative, and case or experimental studies. A total of 4738 papers were screened by title and abstract, 404 were retrieved in full text, and 290 were included. Only 5% had any longitudinal design. Self-reporting was the dominating method of measurement. One third of the studies included children or youth. A majority of adult populations consisted of university students and/or self-selected participants. The main research results included associations between frequent mobile phone use and mental health outcomes, such as depressive symptoms and sleep problems. Mobile phone use at bedtime was associated with, e.g., shorter sleep duration and lower sleep quality. "Problematic use" (dependency) was associated with several negative outcomes. In conclusion, associations between mobile phone use and adverse mental health outcomes are found in studies that take a psychological or behavioral perspective on the exposure. However, more studies of high quality are needed in order to draw valid conclusions about the mechanisms and causal directions of associations.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.