Association of mental health with smartphone addiction – Towards a deeper understanding of well-being across age groups and gender

Abstract

With its numerous advantages, it creeps in the challenges of getting addicted to handheld devices, leading to the physiological foundation of diseases like anxiety, depression, low metabolism, sleep pattern disorders, and more. While researchers have dived into various prospects of gadget affinity, little research was observed on smartphone addiction and its adverse mental effects on patients with pre-existing ailments. Minimal attention paid to artifacts in comprehending the multiple influences of continuous attraction towards smartphones in various age groups and their relatedness on gender basis has encouraged us to probe in this area. This study involved a time-based cross-sectional survey of OPD patients to evaluate the nature of comorbidity between smartphone addiction across age groups and the resultant effect on the respondents through empirical evidence. Medical diagnostics were done by recording pulse oximetry, electrocardiogram, electroencephalogram, and audiometer, supplemented by a thorough history-taking procedure. The results across clinical examinations of 512 OPD patients portray a better understanding of the interplay between mediators like depressive symptoms, anxiety, insomnia, vision, and hearing disorders by excessive screen timing. This study also examines aggravations in the existing ailments likeliness associated with Smartphone addiction (SPA). The findings of our work suggest that extreme addiction to smartphones correlates with mental health symptoms, including anxiety, insomnia, depression, social phobia, and others. Thus, this study helps the audience become critical of excessive screen timing and may encourage future longitudinal studies, including a comparison to the real social world and treatment targets.The findings of our work demonstrate that extensive smartphone usage is a forebearer of several mental health disorders tending to insomnia, depression, anxiety, low among others. Further, it was analytically modeled that the cognitive risk factors for patients already suffering from similar ailments would intensify the adverse effects of long hours of screen time on these handheld gadgets. Our work confirms the significance of investigating the influence of smartphones on cerebrovascular regulation and mental wellness dynamics for gender-specific and based on various age groups.