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\begin{document}

\title{There's Probably an App For This: How We Identified a Relationship
Between Cell Phone Use, Academic Performance, Anxiety and Happiness}



\author[1]{Andrew Lepp}%
\author[1]{Jacob E. Barkley }%
\author[1]{Aryn C. Karpinski }%
\author[2]{Backstories}%
\affil[1]{Kent State University, College of Education, Health and Human Services, Kent, OH, 44242-000, U.S.A}%
\affil[2]{Backstories}%


\vspace{-1em}



  
  \date{May 22, 2024}


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\emph{This article was originally published at
\href{https://thewinnower.com/discussions/22-there-s-probably-an-app-for-this-how-we-identified-a-relationship-between-cell-phone-use-academic-performance-anxiety-and-happiness}{The
Winnower} and is the backstory behind~Lepp, Andrew, Jacob E. Barkley,
and Aryn C. Karpinski. 2014. ``The relationship between cell phone use,
academic performance, anxiety, and Satisfaction with Life in college
students.'' Computers in Human Behavior no. 31 (0):343-350. doi:
\href{https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.10.049}{10.1016/j.chb.2013.10.049}.}

We like to say that the idea for this research was hatched over the
grill at a backyard barbeque. And that's the truth. It was. We were
discussing the widespread use of cell phones across our college campus.
We had observed students using phones in every conceivable setting and
circumstance - the classroom, the library, the recreation center, on
sidewalks, on benches, in cars, in the grass, and under the trees. Of
course, we have all seen this. We've probably seen it in ourselves. It
is nothing novel anymore. But at the heart of our conversation was the
idea that more often than not, the cell phone users were sitting or
standing still. We also saw this at the barbeque with our own children
if someone tossed them an iPhone. That led us to this hypothesis:
despite its inherent mobility, cell phone use disrupts physical
activity, encourages sedentary behavior and consequently reduces
cardiorespiratory fitness. We developed a study to test this and the
findings supported the hypothesized relationships (Lepp et al. 2013). As
part of that study, we interviewed 49 college students about their cell
phone use. We asked a variety of questions related to the hypothesis,
but we also asked students to describe their cell phone use and how cell
phone use makes them feel. Of course, many students described feeling
happy or connected when using the phone; but to our surprise, an equal
number of students described feeling anxious, stressed, annoyed,
irritated and regretful. As we looked more closely at the data, it
appeared that the students who reported these negative feelings were the
students who used the phone the most. Students also reported being
distracted by the phone when studying and using the phone in class. This
did not surprise us. However, we were intrigued when once again we
noticed that these behaviors appeared more frequently among students
with the greatest cell phone use. Considering this new information, we
hypothesized that cell phone use would be negatively associated with
academic performance, positively associated with anxiety, and that
together these relationships would link increased cell phone use with
decreased happiness (Lepp, Barkley, and Karpinski 2014). Testing this
hypothesis led to the article we will discuss below. Thus, it too can be
traced, albeit circuitously, to that backyard barbeque.

Since very little research has examined these issues, we felt that
assessing the hypothesized relationships would make a nice contribution
to the extant cell phone literature. We created a survey with the intent
of administering it to 500 undergraduate students. The survey included a
validated measure of anxiety, a validated measure of happiness
(subjective well-being), a self-report measure of cell phone use which
we had previously developed and published, and lastly a consent form
which would give us permission to access participants' official academic
records. This was necessary as participants' actual, cumulative grade
point average (GPA) would be our measure of academic performance. After
gaining approval from the university's Internal Review Board (IRB) as
well as the university Registrar, we were ready to collect data. This
was the tricky part. IRB approval required that we carefully explain to
each participant how we would access their academic records and how we
would keep that information confidential and anonymous. To do this, we
needed help from faculty with no direct stake in the project. First, we
identified a mix of large classes across campus likely to yield a final
sample representative of the larger student body - that is to say, a
sample with a wide array of majors and evenly distributed by class
standing. Second, we contacted the professors for each class, explained
the project and requested thirty minutes of their class time in order to
administer the survey. This was a bit awkward since we had nothing to
immediately offer in return, only a promise to repay the favor in the
future. As it turned out, each of the professors we contacted was
interested in the study and freely gave their class time. For this we
are very thankful - there is a generous and supportive faculty here at
Kent State University and we are privileged to be a part of it.

What happened next was relatively easy in comparison to some of our
other projects. After a dedicated graduate assistant entered the data
into a spreadsheet, a path analysis revealed that each of the
hypothesized relationships were significant and in the hypothesized
direction. Furthermore, all of the fit indices suggested a very good
model. Thus, there was no need to develop and test alternatives. The
central finding was this: cell phone use was negatively related to GPA
and positively related to anxiety. Following this, GPA was positively
related to happiness while anxiety was negatively related to happiness.
Thus, for the population studied, high frequency cell phone users tended
to have lower GPA, higher anxiety, and diminished happiness relative to
their peers who used the cell phone less often. We carefully prepared a
manuscript highlighting previous research and presenting our own
findings. We submitted it to the journal Computers in Human Behavior.
This was our first choice because much of the research we reviewed had
been published there, the journal is highly respected, and it has a
well-developed online presence. The journal's reviewers and editors
provided positive feedback and helpful comments for fine tuning the
manuscript. It was accepted with only minor revisions and soon after
published online.

Along with the online publication, Kent State University issued a press
release highlighting our findings. Within an hour of the press release
our phones began ringing. First it was local media and by day's end we
had a call from TIME magazine. TIME placed a brief article online within
24 hours. In England, the Daily Mail and Guardian soon followed. Then
the tweets began. In all, the article stayed in the news for nearly a
month and made its way to TV and radio as well. We had a sense this
would be of interest to the public but the magnitude of coverage was
surprising. To explain this media interest we need only consider the
ubiquity of the cell phone. The majority of adults and an increasing
number of adolescents and children carry one. Furthermore, with their
expanding functionality and Internet connectedness, cell phones have
transcended their utilitarian purpose of two-way communication and have
entered the realm of pop culture. Cell phones are now marketed as
lifestyle enhancers and status symbols. Nevertheless, there is a sense
among some that we have become too dependent on the devices (Gibson
2011). Or a sense that after a point, cell phone use may no longer be
beneficial. There are now reports of people texting in their sleep
(Roberts 2013), experiencing nomophobia (Kung 2012), using the phone as
a source of personal identity (Foley, Holzman, and Wearing 2007), and
experiencing the phone ringing when it is not (Hu 2013). Add to this our
research linking cell phone use with decreased academic performance,
increased anxiety and reduced happiness and it raised a red flag. To be
clear, our research identifies relationships, not causality. The media
was quite vigilant about highlighting this distinction. Even so, it is
apparent that the findings hit a nerve and perhaps inspired a brief and
critical reflection on our society's cell phone infatuation - a
reflection which no doubt was soon interrupted by a text, tweet,
Facebook update, or impulse to conquer the next level of Candy Crush
Saga.

The public was extremely receptive to this research. It does make for
intriguing discussion and debate. Yet there were negative comments from
the public as well. These voices were accusing us of spending government
money to research the obvious. In response: this study was not funded,
we never requested funding, and it cost us nothing other than our own
time and effort. That said, if you are reading this and happen to be a
reviewer for the National Institute of Health - we have some great ideas
for expanding this research but they will require your financial
assistance.

\section*{References}

{\label{569754}}

Foley, Carmel, Caryn Holzman, and Stephen Wearing. 2007. ``Moving Beyond
Conspicuous Leisure Consumption: Adolescent Women, Mobile Phones and
Public Space.'' Leisure Studies no. 26 (2):179-192. doi:
10.1080/02614360500418555.

Gibson, E. Smartphone dependency: a growing obsession with gadgets.
2011. Available from
\url{http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/health/medical/health/medical/mentalhealth/story/2011/07/Smartphone-dependency-a-growing-obsession-to-gadgets/49661286/1}

Hu, E. Phantom Phone Vibrations: So Common They've Changed Our Brains?
2013. Available from
\url{http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2013/09/30/226820044/phantom-phone-vibrations-so-common-they-ve-changed-our-brains}

Kung, V. . Rise of `nomophobia': More people fear loss of mobile
contact. 2012. Available from
\url{http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/06/tech/mobile/nomophobia-mobile-addiction/index.html?sr=sharebar\_google}

Lepp, Andrew, Jacob E. Barkley, and Aryn C. Karpinski. 2014. ``The
relationship between cell phone use, academic performance, anxiety, and
Satisfaction with Life in college students.'' Computers in Human
Behavior no. 31 (0):343-350. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2013.10.049.

Lepp, Andrew, Jacob Barkley, Gabriel Sanders, Michael Rebold, and Peter
Gates. 2013. ``The relationship between cell phone use, physical and
sedentary activity, and cardiorespiratory fitness in a sample of U.S.
college students.'' International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and
Physical Activity no. 10 (1):79. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-10-79.

Roberts, K. Sleeptexting Is the New Sleepwalking. 2013. Available from
\url{http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/10/sleeptexting-is-the-new-sleepwalking/280591/}

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