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Is smartphone addiction really an addiction?

AIMS: In light of the rise in research on technological addictions and smartphone addiction in particular, the aim of this paper was to review the relevant literature on the topic of smartphone addiction and determine whether this disorder exists or if it does not adequately satisfy the criteria for...

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Autores principales: Panova, Tayana, Carbonell, Xavier
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Akadémiai Kiadó 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6174603/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29895183
http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/2006.7.2018.49
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author Panova, Tayana
Carbonell, Xavier
author_facet Panova, Tayana
Carbonell, Xavier
author_sort Panova, Tayana
collection PubMed
description AIMS: In light of the rise in research on technological addictions and smartphone addiction in particular, the aim of this paper was to review the relevant literature on the topic of smartphone addiction and determine whether this disorder exists or if it does not adequately satisfy the criteria for addiction. METHODS: We reviewed quantitative and qualitative studies on smartphone addiction and analyzed their methods and conclusions to make a determination on the suitability of the diagnosis “addiction” to excessive and problematic smartphone use. RESULTS: Although the majority of research in the field declares that smartphones are addictive or takes the existence of smartphone addiction as granted, we did not find sufficient support from the addiction perspective to confirm the existence of smartphone addiction at this time. The behaviors observed in the research could be better labeled as problematic or maladaptive smartphone use and their consequences do not meet the severity levels of those caused by addiction. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Addiction is a disorder with severe effects on physical and psychological health. A behavior may have a similar presentation as addiction in terms of excessive use, impulse control problems, and negative consequences, but that does not mean that it should be considered an addiction. We propose moving away from the addiction framework when studying technological behaviors and using other terms such as “problematic use” to describe them. We recommend that problematic technology use is to be studied in its sociocultural context with an increased focus on its compensatory functions, motivations, and gratifications.
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spelling pubmed-61746032018-10-09 Is smartphone addiction really an addiction? Panova, Tayana Carbonell, Xavier J Behav Addict Review Article AIMS: In light of the rise in research on technological addictions and smartphone addiction in particular, the aim of this paper was to review the relevant literature on the topic of smartphone addiction and determine whether this disorder exists or if it does not adequately satisfy the criteria for addiction. METHODS: We reviewed quantitative and qualitative studies on smartphone addiction and analyzed their methods and conclusions to make a determination on the suitability of the diagnosis “addiction” to excessive and problematic smartphone use. RESULTS: Although the majority of research in the field declares that smartphones are addictive or takes the existence of smartphone addiction as granted, we did not find sufficient support from the addiction perspective to confirm the existence of smartphone addiction at this time. The behaviors observed in the research could be better labeled as problematic or maladaptive smartphone use and their consequences do not meet the severity levels of those caused by addiction. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Addiction is a disorder with severe effects on physical and psychological health. A behavior may have a similar presentation as addiction in terms of excessive use, impulse control problems, and negative consequences, but that does not mean that it should be considered an addiction. We propose moving away from the addiction framework when studying technological behaviors and using other terms such as “problematic use” to describe them. We recommend that problematic technology use is to be studied in its sociocultural context with an increased focus on its compensatory functions, motivations, and gratifications. Akadémiai Kiadó 2018-06-12 2018-06 /pmc/articles/PMC6174603/ /pubmed/29895183 http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/2006.7.2018.49 Text en © 2018 The Author(s) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial purposes, provided the original author and source are credited, a link to the CC License is provided, and changes – if any – are indicated.
spellingShingle Review Article
Panova, Tayana
Carbonell, Xavier
Is smartphone addiction really an addiction?
title Is smartphone addiction really an addiction?
title_full Is smartphone addiction really an addiction?
title_fullStr Is smartphone addiction really an addiction?
title_full_unstemmed Is smartphone addiction really an addiction?
title_short Is smartphone addiction really an addiction?
title_sort is smartphone addiction really an addiction?
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6174603/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29895183
http://dx.doi.org/10.1556/2006.7.2018.49
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