Beyond Screen Time: Exploring the Associations between Types of Smartphone Use Content and Adolescents’ Social Relationships

Shunsen Huang, Xiaoxiong Lai, Xinmei Zhao, Xinran Dai, Yuanwei Yao, Cai Zhang and Yun Wang
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Shunsen Huang: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Xiaoxiong Lai: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Xinmei Zhao: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Xinran Dai: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Yuanwei Yao: Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Cai Zhang: Collaborative Innovation Centre of Assessment toward Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Yun Wang: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-14

Abstract: The past two decades have witnessed controversy over whether the use of digital technology has damaged or enhanced adolescents’ social relationships, which influences their development. In this study, we addressed this debate by specifying the effect of different types of smartphone use content on social relationships, rather than simply relying on screen time spent on digital media. To avoid selective analysis and report of different variables, we used specification curve analysis (SCA) in a large dataset (N = 46,018) to explore the correlations between 20 types of smartphone use content and adolescents’ social relationships (parent–child, peer, and teacher–student). The types of smartphone use content were measured by the revised version of Mobile Phone Use Pattern Scale, the Parent-Child Relationship Scale, the Peer Relationship Scale, and the Teacher-Student Relationship Scale assessed three different social relationships, respectively. Of the 20 types of smartphone use content, only playing games (negatively explaining 1% of the variation), taking online courses (positively explaining 1.6% of the variation), using search engines (positively explaining 1.2% of the variation), using a dictionary (positively explaining 1.3% of the variation), and obtaining life information (positively explaining 1.5% of the variation) showed a significant effect size. The association between smartphone use and adolescents’ social relationships depends on the various types of content with which adolescents engage during smartphone use. The various effects of different types of smartphone use content deserve the attention of both the public and policy-makers.

Keywords: types of smartphone use content; social relationships; adolescents; specification curve analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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