Are there health consequences associated with not using a smartphone?

Many studies have examined the health effects of smartphone abuse, but a new study looks at the sociodemographic features and health indicators of people who have a smartphone but do not use it regularly. This under-studied group of individuals were significantly more likely to report feelings of loneliness, according to the article published in Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking.

Eduardo Pedrero-Pérez and colleagues from Madrid Salud (Spain) coauthored the article entitled "Smartphone Nonusers: Associated Sociodemographic and Health Variables." The researchers conducted a random sampling of people living in a large city ages 15-65 who own a smartphone and identified those who do not use their smartphone regularly. In comparing the two groups, they found the non-users more likely to be male, older, have a lower educational level, and belong to an underprivileged social class. In addition, the non-users showed worse mental health indicators, and a lower perceived quality of life relating to their health

"Population health research can help us to discover how technology use patterns may contribute to mental and physical health difficulties as well as provide protective factors for large groups of individuals," says Editor-in-Chief Brenda K. Wiederhold, Ph.D., MBA, BCB, BCN, Interactive Media Institute, San Diego, California and Virtual Reality Medical Institute, Brussels, Belgium.