Association among social-networking service usage via smartphone, internet addiction, and psychological stress in Japanese physical therapy university students: a single-university cross-sectional study.
Hiroto Honda, Kyohei Yoshikawa, Yoshihiro Yamashina and 3 others
PMID 32982056WHAT IT FOUND
Male students and those who spent more time on their smartphones showed higher internet addiction scores.
Passive social media use, like browsing without purpose, linked to greater psychological stress. Self-study time did not correlate with these issues.
Key findings
01Male gender and longer daily smartphone usage were significant predictors of higher internet addiction scores.
02Using social media without a specific purpose was associated with higher psychological stress scores.
03Fourth-year students reported more daily self-learning time than second- and third-year students, but this time did not affect stress or addiction scores.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study was conducted at a single university, limiting generalizability to all physical therapy students. Data relied on self-reported recall for time spent on smartphones and studying, which may be inaccurate. The study did not measure sleep quality or other stressors like part-time work, which could influence the results. Specific usage patterns for the most popular app (LINE) were not assessed in detail.
Declared interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume that high academic workload causes internet addiction or stress in students. The study found no link between self-study time and these outcomes; instead, passive social media use and male gender were the significant factors.