Excessive Smartphone Usage among Chinese High School Students

Smartphone usage affects many aspects of a students’ life and behavior on a global scale. We are all very dependent on our smartphones to perform many different and useful functions that have become essential in the modern world. In Chinese high schools, students often arrive at school sleep deprived, without having completed assignments, and generally lacking motivation. These behavioral effects have been attributed to excessive smartphone usage, a growing problem with students and the general global population. Previous research has associated increased smartphone use to multiple motivating factors, including maintaining and developing social interactions with those who are not close in proximity, for those who are generally isolate to reach out to others, and to make other social connections. In the present study, researchers made three primary hypotheses regarding what types of motivation students from a Chinese metropolitan area would be related to either increased or decreased smartphone usage, and whether males who were not local to their peers would demonstrate increased smartphone use, for social engagement.