Smartphones and State Anxiety

The present study explores how smartphone intrusiveness and excessive use affects emerging adults’ state (or temporary) anxiety. Participants were divided into three groups, varied by the degree of intrusiveness of their smartphone devices during a period of forbidden smartphone use: absent (non-intrusive), silenced (mildly intrusive), and notifications (intrusive). Given the well-established relationship between smartphone addiction and anxiety (Matar Boumosleh & Jaalouk, 2017; Hawi & Samaha, 2017; Kim et al., 2019; Oraison et al., 2020; Selcuk & Ayhan, 2020), it was hypothesized that smartphone intrusiveness would increase state anxiety when denied use of their smartphone during an unspecified waiting period, particularly if they received notifications during that time. Replicating Cheever and colleagues (2014), it was also expected that excessive daily smartphone use would be associated with high levels of state anxiety. Surprisingly, results revealed that state anxiety scores decreased after the delay of gratification task, regardless of smartphone intrusiveness. Anecdotal evidence suggests this reduction in anxiety is a result of self-permission to temporarily ignore technological interference. The negative impact of smartphones on anxiety was observed in that participants reporting excessive daily smartphone use (6 or more hours) had significantly higher state anxiety than participants reporting more moderate smartphone use. Together, these findings suggest that a temporary reprieve from smartphone use may have an alleviating effect on state anxiety, but that prodigious daily smartphone use negatively influences even transient levels of anxiety. This conclusion adds to the body of knowledge surrounding smartphones’ aggravating effect on mental health.