Cell Phone Addiction and Mental Illness

Abstract

This study explored the relationship between cell-phone addiction and mental health among college students. This thesis asked the following: Are students who are more addicted to their cell phones experiencing more anxiety and depression than their peers who are less addicted? Students were recruited to participate in this study based on their results on a cell phone addiction scale on a general pretesting survey. A short number of weeks after this initial survey, students took the addiction scale again, along with measures used to determine levels of anxiety and depression, and answered questions on frequency and the primary use of their phones. Results revealed that both anxiety and depression were statistically significantly correlated with the measure of cell phone addiction. The data shows potential positive results, and the researcher recommends further study with a larger sample size.