Want higher grades and lower stress levels? Stop checking your phone every two minutes.
Poor college grades and higher stress levels are common among smartphone users who constantly check their phones, a study by researchers at Ohio’s Kent State University has found. The study cross-referenced the GPA (grade point average) of 500 freshman, sophomore, junior and senior students at the university.
Researchers investigated the smartphone habits of equal numbers of students in each year of study and were given voluntary access to the GPA results of all participants in order to get a better understanding of how their grades were affected. Students were also tested for daily anxiety levels and quizzed about how happy they were and also had to divulge how much they’d used their phone each day.
The survey sought to find out whether there was a correlation between the amount a phone was used and the academic performance and anxiety levels of the user. The survey found that grades dropped and anxiety levels rose among students with above average mobile phone use. High-frequency phone users were significantly less happy than their peers.
The Kent State University researchers also found that students who used their phone a lot were likely to be less active and less fit than students who didn’t use their phones as much. The study included cardiorespiratory fitness tests.
Publishing their findings in the journal Computers In Human Behaviour, the team said “Taken as a whole, these results suggest that students should be encouraged to monitor their cell phone use and reflect upon it critically so that it is not detrimental to their academic performance, mental and physical health, and overall well-being or happiness”.
-Rosemary Hattersley
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