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This study aimed to assess the effects of restricting mobile phone use before bedtime on sleep, pre-sleep arousal, mood, and working memory. Thirty-eight participants were randomized to either an intervention group (n = 19), where members were instructed to avoid using their mobile phone 30 minutes before bedtime, or a control group (n = 19), where the participants were given no such instructions. Sleep habit, sleep quality, pre-sleep arousal and mood were measured using the sleep diary, the Pittsburgh sleep quality index, the Pre-sleep Arousal Scale and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule respectively. Working memory was tested by using the 0-,1-,2-back task (n-back task). Restricting mobile phone use before bedtime for four weeks was effective in reducing sleep latency, increasing sleep duration, improving sleep quality, reducing pre-sleep arousal, and improving positive affect and working memory. Restricting mobile phone use close to bedtime reduced sleep latency and pre-sleep arousal and increased sleep duration and working memory. This simple change to moderate usage was recommended to individuals with sleep disturbances.

This study assessed the incidence of transitions in smartphone addiction proneness (SAP) among children and examined the effects of gender, use patterns (social networking sites (SNSs) use and smartphone gaming) and depression on smartphone addiction transitions. A representative sample of 2,155 children from Taipei completed longitudinal surveys in both 2015 (5th grade) and 2016 (6th grade). Latent transition analysis (LTA) was used to characterize transitions in SAP and to examine the effects of gender, use patterns and depression on SAP transitions. LTA identified four latent statuses of SAP: about half of the children were in non-SAP status, one-fifth were in tolerance status, one-sixth were in withdrawal status, and one-seventh were in high-SAP status. Both boys and girls had a higher prevalence of high-SAP and tolerance in 6th grade than in 5th grade, whereas in both grades boys had a higher prevalence of high-SAP and withdrawal, and girls had a higher prevalence of non-SAP and tolerance. Controlling for parents' education, family structure, and household income, higher use of SNSs by children, increasing use of mobile gaming and higher levels of depression were individually associated with increased odds of being in one of the three SAP statuses other than non-SAP. When all three covariates were jointly entered into the model, usage of SNSs and depression remained significant predictors. Both boys and girls tended to transition to tolerance or high-SAP statuses, while children's depression and their usage of SNSs increased the risk of smartphone addiction.

We employ the Google and Apple mobility data to identify, quantify and classify different degrees of social distancing and characterise their imprint on the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe and in the United States. We identify the period of enacted social distancing via Google and Apple data, independently from the political decisions. Our analysis allows us to classify different shades of social distancing measures for the first wave of the pandemic. We observe a strong decrease in the infection rate occurring two to five weeks after the onset of mobility reduction. A universal time scale emerges, after which social distancing shows its impact. We further provide an actual measure of the impact of social distancing for each region, showing that the effect amounts to a reduction by 20–40% in the infection rate in Europe and 30–70% in the US.

BackgroundPedestrians are commonly involved in vehicle collisions that result in injuries and fatalities. Pedestrian distraction has become an emerging safety issue as more pedestrians use their mobile phones while walking and crossing the street.ObjectivesThe purpose of this research synthesis and meta-analysis is to determine the extent to which cell phone conversation, text messaging or browsing, and listening to music affect a number of common pedestrian behavioural measures.MethodsA keyword search was developed with a subject librarian that used MeSH terms from selected databases including PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, Medline and TRID. Supplemental searches were also conducted with Google Scholar and Mendeley.Effect size codingThirty-three studies met inclusion criteria and were subjected to data extraction. Statistical information (ie, M, SD, SE, 95% CI, OR, F, t) was extracted to generate standardised mean difference effect sizes (ie, Cohen’s d) and r effect sizes.ResultsFourteen experimental studies were ultimately included in an N-weighted meta-analysis (k=81 effect sizes), and eight observational studies were included in a qualitative overview. Both mobile phone conversation and text messaging increased rates of hits and close calls. Texting decreased rates of looking left and right prior to and/or during street crossing. As might be expected, text messaging was generally found to have the most detrimental effect on multiple behavioural measures.LimitationsA variety of study quality issues limit the interpretation and generalisation of the results, which are described, as are future study measurement and methods improvements.

The mobile phone is essential in daily life, especially during the pandemic. Prolonged use can cause postural issues, leading to common neck pain. This study aims to determine the correlation between mobile phone use duration, addiction, neck muscle endurance, and neck pain in university students. The study included 62 participants (30 female, 32 male) aged 18–35 years. Inclusion criteria required participants to have experienced neck pain at least twice in the past year and to have no other concomitant issues, as well as to volunteer for the study. Demographic information and daily mobile phone usage time were collected. Neck pain was assessed with the Visual Analogue Scale, smartphone addiction with the Smartphone Addiction Scale, and cervical muscle endurance was evaluated. Correlation analysis reveals a moderate relationship between neck pain severity (NPS) and cervical extensor muscle endurance (CEME), a strong relationship between NPS and cervical flexor muscle endurance (CFME), as well as a strong relationship among daily phone usage time (DPUT), CFME, and NPS, with a moderate relationship between DPUT and CEME. Participants were divided into two groups based on their DPUT, revealing that those who used their phone for four hours or more showed significantly higher levels of pain (p < 0.05) and reduced endurance in cervical flexor muscles. Our study found a strong correlation between neck pain, muscle endurance, and daily phone usage. Participants using their phones for more than four hours daily reported increased neck pain and decreased muscle endurance. We suggest integrating phone usage duration into neck pain assessments, promoting ergonomic practices, and offering detailed usage guidelines for users.

Mobile phones are reliable devices for communication and entertainment. However, their utilization for prolonged periods in flexed neck position is linked to neck and shoulders pain. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the association between neck pain and the duration of device use, taking into consideration gender, age, and the most frequent position in which students use their devices. Based on a self-administered online questionnaire, we filled 500 questionnaires between February 15th, 2017 and March 18th, 2017. The study sample included healthy students from health care faculties regardless of their age, gender, or handedness. Analysis of the predictors for pain severity showed that age (p = 0.04) and duration of use (p = 0.001) were significantly associated with the severity of neck pain, while only the duration of use was significantly associated with pain duration (p = 0.036). Subjects were divided into two groups according to the pain score, 75.8% had pain severity equal or less than 4/10 and 24.2% had pain severity more than 4/10. Of those with pain severity >4, 5.8% of students sought medical help at the emergency department and 12.4% visited clinics, compared to only 0.3% seeking medical advice at an emergency department and 4.2% visiting clinics in the group with pain severity of ≤4 (p<0.001). Regarding the use of analgesia in the two groups, 44.6% of subjects with pain severity of >4 used analgesia, compared to only 12.1% in subjects with pain severity of ≤4 (p< 0.001). This study demonstrates a significant positive correlation between the duration of mobile phone use and the duration and severity of neck pain. Furthermore, the increased severity of neck pain places a huge burden on the healthcare system.

This study aimed to compare the mean scores of mobile phone use, mobile phone addiction, and depressive symptoms at three-time points among Korean adolescents according to gender and to examine the differences in the long-term relationships among the three abovementioned variables between Korean boys and girls in a four-year period. Data for 1794 adolescents (897 boys and 897 girls) were obtained from three waves of the second panel of the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey. Multigroup structural equation modeling was used for data analyses. The study findings showed that at each of the three-time points, Korean girls tended to use their mobile phones more frequently and were at a higher risk of mobile phone addiction and depressive symptoms than Korean boys. Significant changes were observed in the longitudinal relationships among phone use, mobile phone addiction, and depressive symptoms in Korean adolescents across time periods, but no gender differences were found in the strengths of these relationships. These findings contribute to expanding the knowledge base of mobile phone addiction and depressive symptoms among Korean adolescents.

The prevalence of mobile phone use across the world has increased greatly over the past two decades. Problematic Mobile Phone Use (PMPU) has been studied in relation to public health and comprises various behaviours, including dangerous, prohibited, and dependent use. These types of problematic mobile phone behaviours are typically assessed with the short version of the Problematic Mobile Phone Use Questionnaire (PMPUQ–SV). However, to date, no study has ever examined the degree to which the PMPU scale assesses the same construct across different languages. The aims of the present study were to (i) determine an optimal factor structure for the PMPUQ–SV among university populations using eight versions of the scale (i.e., French, German, Hungarian, English, Finnish, Italian, Polish, and Spanish); and (ii) simultaneously examine the measurement invariance (MI) of the PMPUQ–SV across all languages. The whole study sample comprised 3038 participants. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were extracted from the demographic and PMPUQ-SV items. Individual and multigroup confirmatory factor analyses alongside MI analyses were conducted. Results showed a similar pattern of PMPU across the translated scales. A three-factor model of the PMPUQ-SV fitted the data well and presented with good psychometric properties. Six languages were validated independently, and five were compared via measurement invariance for future cross-cultural comparisons. The present paper contributes to the assessment of problematic mobile phone use because it is the first study to provide a cross-cultural psychometric analysis of the PMPUQ-SV.

Mobile phones emit electromagnetic radiations that are classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans. Evidence for increased risk for brain tumours accumulated in parallel by epidemiologic investigations remains controversial. This paper aims to investigate whether methodological quality of studies and source of funding can explain the variation in results. PubMed and Cochrane CENTRAL searches were conducted from 1966 to December 2016, which was supplemented with relevant articles identified in the references. Twenty-two case control studies were included for systematic review. Meta-analysis of 14 case–control studies showed practically no increase in risk of brain tumour [OR 1.03 (95% CI 0.92–1.14)]. However, for mobile phone use of 10 years or longer (or >1640 h), the overall result of the meta-analysis showed a significant 1.33 times increase in risk. The summary estimate of government funded as well as phone industry funded studies showed 1.07 times increase in odds which was not significant, while mixed funded studies did not show any increase in risk of brain tumour. Metaregression analysis indicated that the association was significantly associated with methodological study quality ( p  < 0.019, 95% CI 0.009–0.09). Relationship between source of funding and log OR for each study was not statistically significant ( p  < 0.32, 95% CI 0.036–0.010). We found evidence linking mobile phone use and risk of brain tumours especially in long-term users (≥10 years). Studies with higher quality showed a trend towards high risk of brain tumour, while lower quality showed a trend towards lower risk/protection.

Background & objectives: Several studies have been conducted globally to assess the impact of usage of mobile phones on quality and duration of sleep as also on day time sleepiness. The objective of the present study was to assess the effect of mobile phone usage on the quality and composition of sleep in a sample from Indian population. Methods: The study was conducted at two tertiary care hospitals in north India from July 2014 to September 2019. A total of 566 participants were recruited in this study from both the centres. Sleep quality was assessed with the help of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire. Subsequently, actigraphy was done in 96 participants and polysomnography in 95 participants. Results: Of the 566 participants, 128 (22.61%) had PSQI ≥5, reflecting poor sleep quality. A higher use of mobile phone was significantly associated with a poor sleep quality as a component of PSQI questionnaire (P=0.01) and higher overall PSQI score (P=0.01). The latency from sleep onset to N2 and N3 sleep stages was significantly shorter in participants having a higher mobile phone usage as compared to those with a lower usage [Median (range): 13.5 min (1.5-109) vs. 6.5 min (0-89); P=0.02] and [Median (range): 49 min (8.5-220.5) vs. 28.75 min (0-141); P=0.03], respectively. Interpretation & conclusions: This study focused on the maladaptive changes brought on by mobile phone usage on sleep. More studies with larger sample sizes need to be done that may serve to confirm the hypothesis generating findings of our study.