Cell Phone Usage Makes Students More Anxious, Unhappy and Poor in Academics

Students who constantly use cell phones are more anxious, unhappy and have poor academic scores, a latest study by the Kent State University shows.

It is difficult these days to get teenagers off the cell phones. Students are glued to their mobile almost 24/7 now a days. They text their friends in college classrooms, libraries, recreational centers, cafeteria or dorm rooms.  However, excess of anything is always harmful.

The researchers for this study wanted to see the side effects of excessive cell phone usage on students.

For the study, the researchers, Andrew Lepp, Ph.D., Jacob Barkley, Ph.D., and Aryn Karpinski, Ph.D., polled over 500 university students and asked them about their daily usage of mobile phones.

They also analyzed the academic performance of the participants and got their cumulative college grade point average (GPA).

The study results showed that students who used their mobile phones constantly had less GPA scores, were less happy and more anxious.

The research is published in the journal 'Computers in Human Behavior.'

Previous studies show that heavy usage of cell phones leads to inactive lifestyle. "The possibility that cell phone use may encourage physical activity among some low-frequency users while disrupting physical activity and encouraging sedentary activity among high-frequency users helps explain the significant negative relationship between cell phone use and cardiorespiratory fitness identified in this study," the researchers said in the study.

Author Daniel Siberg of 'The Digital Diet: The 4-Step Plan To Break Your Tech Addiction and Regain Balance in Your Life,' suggests that people should avoid using cell phones in social gatherings. For instance, while going out with friends for dinner, people should put their phones on the table facing down. Whoever takes their phones first should pick up the whole tab for the table, according to him, reports Medical Daily.

It is important to balance out the time you spend on the cell phone, it should not take over the form of human interactions.