ArticleFrontiers in psychology2023
The habitual characteristic of smart phone use under relevant cues among Chinese college students.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- The developmental trajectories of phubbing in Chinese adolescents: a variable-centered and person-centered perspective.Frontiers in psychiatry · 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
- Investigation on the association between college students' smartphone-related behaviors and sleep quality during COVID-19.PloS one · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
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Abstract
Excessive smartphone use may be habitual behavior induced by cues associated with the phone. Habitual behavior occurs outside of awareness and is characterized by lack of control. It is not like problematic smartphone use (PSU) (Brand et al., 2016), which is used to either limit behavior or produce pleasure and relieve feelings of pain, stress, and failure despite significant harmful consequences. 62 college students participated in experiments to test the effects of visual cues and self-control, which are the important characteristic of habitual behavior in smartphone-related behavior. The results showed that a significantly larger amount of cue-related phone use behavior occurred in the setting where participants (a) had their smartphones in sight and (b) were given no instructions to exert self-control, compared to when neither of the two conditions was imposed. The habitual model is a useful framework for understanding PSU and can help people avoid it with less stress. The results provide substantial implications for reducing the frequency and duration of smartphone use among college populations.
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