The teen obsession with yakking, text messaging and ring-tone swapping on cellphones might mean more than a whopping phone bill. For the most crazed, it's a sign of unhappiness and anxiety, according to a new medical study.
A survey of 575 South Korean high school students found that the top third of users -- students who used their phones more than 90 times a day -- frequently did so because they were unhappy or bored. They scored significantly higher on tests measuring depression and anxiety than students who used their phones a more sedate 70 times daily.
The study, presented Tuesday at a meeting of the American Psychiatric Assn. in Toronto, was among the first to explore the emotional significance of teens' cellphone habits as the device becomes more entrenched in today's youth culture.
Two of every five youths in the U.S. from ages 8 to 18 have a cellphone, according to a recent survey. Students in grades seven through 12 spend an average of an hour a day on their cellphones -- about the same time they devote to homework.
Some earlier studies involving college students have suggested a link between heavy cellphone use and depression. Other research has shown that students incorporate cellphones into their personal identities.
For teens, cellphones were "not just objects or communications tools. They were portals for being in touch with other people -- extensions of themselves," said Christina Wasson, a University of North Texas anthropologist who has studied cellphone use.
Dr. Jee Hyan Ha, lead author of the latest report, said heavy cellphone users involved in his study weren't clinically depressed. Rather, he said, the students probably had some serious cases of teen angst.
The youths may have been unhappy because of a problem in their lives or anxious about their social status. "They are trying to make themselves feel better by reaching out to others," he said.
Ha, a psychiatrist at Yongin Mental Hospital in South Korea, surveyed students attending a technical high school in that country about their cellphone habits and attitudes. Most of the participants were boys, and their average age was 15.
The heaviest users were communicating by cellphone on average about every 10 minutes during waking hours. The vast majority of their usage was in text messages. They continually checked their phones for messages and often became irritated when people didn't call right back.
