Compulsive Smartphone Use: The Roles of Flow, Reinforcement Motives, and Convenience

Along with its rapid growth of penetration, smartphone has become highly prevalent in recent years. Meanwhile, compulsive smartphone use emerges as a rising concern. Given that research on compulsive smartphone use is scarce in the information systems literature, this paper aims to reveal its significant determinants to enrich the theoretical development in this area. In particular, we incorporate flow, reinforcement motives (i.e., instant gratification and mood regulation), and convenience in the research model to examine their influences on compulsive smartphone use. We conduct an empirical online survey with 384 valid responses to assess the model. The findings show that flow and reinforcement motives have direct and significant effects on compulsive use. Convenience affects compulsive use indirectly through flow, while flow further mediates the effects of reinforcement motives on compulsive use. Implications for both research and practice are offered

Typical Phone Use Habits: Intense Use Does Not Predict Negative Well-Being

Not all smartphone owners use their device in the same way. In this work, we uncover broad, latent patterns of mobile phone use behavior. We conducted a study where, via a dedicated logging app, we collected daily mobile phone activity data from a sample of 340 participants for a period of four weeks. Through an unsupervised learning approach and a methodologically rigorous analysis, we reveal five generic phone use profiles which describe at least 10% of the participants each: limited use, business use, power use, and personality- & externally induced problematic use. We provide evidence that intense mobile phone use alone does not predict negative well-being. Instead, our approach automatically revealed two groups with tendencies for lower well-being, which are characterized by nightly phone use sessions.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, conference pape

A Comparative Study Of Smartphone Addiction Drivers’ Effect On Work Performance In The U.S. And Korea

Smartphone addiction is a new phenomenon when a smartphone becomes a necessity in our daily life. This study explores smartphone addiction drivers and their results. Four factors such as ease of use, emotional lift, preference of social interaction, and flow, are used for drivers and neglect of work is used as a proxy of addiction result. In the result of structured equation modeling analysis, preference of social interaction is not related with smartphone usage behaviors such as usage frequency and usage hours. In the analysis of U.S. users, emotional lift is a driver and in the analysis of Korean users, ease of use and flow are drivers for smartphone addiction. There is a significant relationship between smartphone use and neglect of work in both countries. Even if there is a trend of converging user behavior because of globalization, drivers for smartphone addiction are different in the U.S. and Korea

Understanding Problematic Smartphone Use and Its Characteristics: A Perspective on Behavioral Addiction

The problematic use of smartphones has extensively drawn social attention because of the harmful and disturbing outcomes. However, there has been little comprehensive research concerning the mechanism of problematic behavior in the use of smartphone, particularly for behavioral addiction. Given the specific characteristics of smartphones (e.g., high mobility, instant connection, and ubiquitous access), it is highlighted that smartphone addiction is a behavior that differentiates from traditional addiction behavior. However, in the previous research, there is a lack of comprehensive understanding of the characteristics and the underlying mechanism of smartphone addiction. Motivated to systematically theorize this issue, we primarily define addiction in the smartphone context and comprehend the characteristics of smartphone addiction, followed by developing the measures for smartphone addiction. On this conceptual foundation, future empirical research should be able to explain, predict, and test addiction behavior in the use of smartphone

Why We Cannot Resist Our Smartphones: Investigating Compulsive Use of Mobile SNS from a Stimulus-Response-Reinforcement Perspective

Compulsive smartphone use has attracted extensive social attention because of serious and even fatal outcomes associated with it. However, there has been little theory-driven research systematically investigating the mechanism of compulsive behavior in smartphone use. Although a significant line of literature exists in the area of personal-computer based technology addiction, the mechanism underpinning compulsive smartphone use differs significantly because the unique and specific characteristics of smartphones have given rise to a fundamentally different usage context with new usage behavioral patterns. In order to comprehensively theorize this issue, we first defined compulsive behavior in smartphone use, focusing on mobile social networking services (SNSs) in particular, and then extended the stimulus-response-reinforcement framework to investigate the theoretical network of compulsive use of mobile SNSs. We used online survey data from 368 active mobile SNS users in China to empirically test and validate the proposed model and hypotheses. Our results indicate that both positive and negative reinforcements, as well as the compensatory component, invoke the feeling of urge that leads to compulsive mobile SNS use. The positive effects of interactivity as an incentive stimulus on those reinforcements and compulsive mobile SNS use were also found to be significant

Are Cyberchondria and Intolerance of Uncertainty Related to Smartphone Addiction?

Smartphones are a medium for performing online activities, and one such activity could be the compulsive online health information search — cyberchondria. This study aimed to test whether cyberchondria and intolerance of uncertainty (IU) positively predict smartphone addiction (SA), adjusted for age, gender, daily use duration, the reason for using smartphones, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. The sample consisted of 471 adults (55.2% women) from the general population without chronic diseases ( M age = 38.67). Regression analysis showed that IU was a positive predictor of SA ( β = .17, p < .001), as well as cyberchondria ( β = .14, p < .001), which had a unique contribution to the explanation of SA, relative to IU. Other significant predictors were average daily smartphone use and entertainment use, the latter being the strongest predictor in the model. These results revealed cyberchondria as a unique predictor of SA

Can IT Hurt Productivity? An Investigation of IT Addiction

While IT is generally found to augment productivity, recent evidence indicates that excessive and compulsive usage of IT is likely to have some adverse consequences. Given the prevalence of IT addiction, it becomes increasingly important to study this phenomenon. We seek to investigate the adverse effects of IT addiction, especially on productivity, in work settings. We propose a model showing that two types of factors (related to individual differences and technology features) could have an impact on addictive IT use, which in turn will affect work productivity. A quantitative cross-sectional design will be used to test the model; as needed, survey instruments will be developed and/or validated. Our study will contribute to the IS discipline by proposing a model of IT addiction to identify and explain its significant antecedents and impacts. For managers, the findings will help understanding the formation of addictive IT behaviors and their effects

Comparing Smartphone Addiction: The Prevalence, Predictors, and Negative Consequences in Hong Kong and Mainland China

This study aimed to identify common and specific factors related to smartphone addiction by systematically comparing the prevalence, predictors, and improper behavioral outcomes of smartphone addiction among university students in two cities. Data were randomly gathered from 661 university students, of which 351 were in Hong Kong and 310 were in Guangzhou in mainland China. The findings indicated that there was no significant difference in the prevalence of smartphone addiction between the two samples. In addition, the comparison of the predictors of smartphone addiction showed similar significant psychological traits (procrastination and urgency) in both regions. The findings also indicated that smartphone addiction might be associated with distinct habits of media use. Entertainment and information seeking behaviors were the unique significant predictors among the Hong Kong students, whereas social interaction was an extremely robust factor among the Guangzhou students. At last, in comparing the predictors of improper use of smartphone, addiction symptoms (craving and complaints) and utility assisting use of smartphone were significant factors for students in both regions