problematic smartphone use problematic smartphone use problematic smartphone use is proposed by some researchers to be a form of psychological or behavioral dependence on cell phones, closely related to other forms of digital media overuse such as social media addiction or internet addiction disorder. other researchers have stated that terminology relating to behavioral addictions in regards to smartphone use can cause additional problems both in research and stigmatization of users, suggesting the term to evolve to problematic smartphone use. problematic use can include preoccupation with mobile communication, excessive money or time spent on mobile phones, and use of mobile phones in socially or physically inappropriate situations such as driving an automobile. increased use can also lead to adverse effects on relationships, mental or physical health, and ensues anxiety if separated from a mobile phone or sufficient signal. preschool children and young adults are at highest risk for problematic smartphone use. young adults using their mobile phones individually at a party the use of smartphone significantly increased since the late 2000s. in 2019 conducts, global smartphone users penetrated in 41.5% of total population. due to prolific technological advance, the smartphone overuse continued to be a major threat in asian countries such as china, with around 700 million users are registered in 2018. digital media overuse is tangentially linked to ocular problems, especially in young age. it has been estimated that 49.8% (4.8 billion) of global population with digital media overuse would be affected with myopia by 2050. history and terminology founded in current research on the adverse consequences of overusing technology, "mobile phone overuse" has been proposed as a subset of forms of "digital addiction", or "digital dependence", reflecting increasing trends of compulsive behaviour amongst users of technological devices. researchers have variously termed these behaviours "smartphone addiction" and "problematic smartphone use", as well as referring to use of non-smartphone mobile devices (cell phones). forms of technology addiction have been considered as diagnoses since the mid 1990s. panova and carbonell published a review in 2018 that specifically encouraged terminology of "problematic use" in regard to technology behaviours, rather than continuing research based on other behavioral addictions. unrestrained use of technological devices may affect developmental, social, mental and physical well-being and result in symptoms akin to other behavioral addictions. however, the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders has not formally codified smartphone overuse as a diagnosis. gaming disorder has been recognised in the international classification of diseases (icd-11). varied, changing recommendations are in part due to the lack of well established evidence or expert consensus, the differing emphasis of the classification manuals, as well as difficulties utilising animal models for behavioral addictions. whilst published studies have shown associations between digital media use and mental health symptoms or diagnoses, causality has not been established, with nuances and caveats of researchers often misunderstood by the general public, or misrepresented by the media. a systematic review of reviews published in 2019 concluded that evidence, although of mainly low to moderate quality, showed an association of screen time with poorer psychological health including symptoms such as inattention, hyperactivity, low self esteem, and behavioral issues in childhood and adolescence. several studies have shown that females are more likely to overuse social media, and males video games. this has led experts to suggest that digital media overuse may not be a unified phenomenon, with some calling to delineate proposed disorders based on individual online activity. due to the lack of recognition and consensus on the concepts, diagnoses and treatments are difficult to standardise or recommend, especially considering that "new media has been subject to such moral panic." prevalence people using mobile phones international estimates of the prevalence of forms of technology overuse have varied considerably, with marked variations by nation and increases over time. prevalence of mobile phone overuse depends largely on definition and thus the scales used to quantify a subject's behaviors. two main scales are in use, the 20-item self-reported problematic use of mobile phones (pump) scale, and the mobile phone problem use scale (mppus), which have been used both with adult and adolescent populations. there are variations in the age, gender, and percentage of the population affected problematically according to the scales and definitions used. the prevalence among british adolescents aged 11–14 was 10%. in india, addiction is stated at 39-44% for this age group. under different diagnostic criteria, the estimated prevalence ranges from 0 to 38%, with self-attribution of mobile phone addiction exceeding the prevalence estimated in the studies themselves. the prevalence of the related problem of internet addiction was 4.9-10.7% in korea, and is now regarded as a serious public health issue. a questionnaire survey in korea also found that these teenagers are twice as likely to admit that they are "mobile phone addicted" as adults. for most teenagers, smartphone communication is what they think is an important way to maintain social relationships and has become an important part of their lives. additional scales used to measure smartphone addictions are the korean scale for internet addiction for adolescents (k-scale), the smartphone addiction scale (sas-sv), and the smartphone addiction proneness scale (saps). these implicit tests were validated as means of measuring smartphone and internet addiction in children and adolescents in a study conducted by daeyoung roh, soo-young bhang, jung-seok choi, yong sil kweon, sang-kyu lee and marc n. potenza. behaviors associated with mobile-phone addiction differ between genders. older people are less likely to develop addictive mobile phone behavior because of different social usage, stress, and greater self-regulation. at the same time, the study by media regulator ofcom has shown that 50% of 10-year-olds in the uk owned a smartphone in 2019. these children who grow with gadgets in their hands are more prone to mobile phone addiction, since their online and offline worlds merge into a single whole. effects in some schools, a mobile phone cage is used to prevent students from using smartphones in the classroom during lessons. overuse of mobile phones may be associated with negative outcomes on mental and physical health, in addition to having an impact on how users interact socially. social some people are replacing face-to-face conversations with cyber ones. clinical psychologist lisa merlo says, "some patients pretend to talk on the phone or fiddle with apps to avoid eye contact or other interactions at a party." furthermore, 70% check their phones in the morning within an hour of getting up. 56% check their phones before going to bed. 48% check their phones over the weekend. 51% constantly check their phones during vacation. 44% reported they would feel very anxious and irritable if they did not interact with their phones within a week. this change in style from face-to-face to text-based conversation has also been observed by sherry turkle. her work cites connectivity as an important trigger of social behavior change regarding communication; therefore, this adaptation of communicating is not caused only by the phone itself. in her book, alone together: why we expect more from technology and less from each other, turkle argues that people now find themselves in a state of "continual co-presence." this means that digital communication allows the occurrence of two or more realities in the same place and time. subsequently, person also live in a "world of continual partial attention," the process of paying simultaneous attention to a number of sources of incoming information, but at a superficial level. bombarded with an abundance of emails, texts, messages, people not only find themselves divesting people of their human characteristics or individuality, but also increasingly treating them as digital units. this is often referred to as depersonalization. according to elliot berkman, a psychology professor at the university of oregon, the constant checking of phones is caused by reward learning and the fear of missing out. berkman explains that, “habits are a product of reinforcement learning, one of our brain's most ancient and reliable systems,” and people tend, thus, to develop habits of completing behaviors that have rewarded them in the past. for many, using mobile phone has been enjoyable in the past, leading to feel excited and positive when receive a notification from phones. berkman also iterates that people often check their smartphones to relieve the social pressure they place upon themselves to never miss out on exciting things. as berkman says, "smartphones can be an escape from boredom because they are a window into many worlds other than the one right in front of you, helping us feel included and involved in society." when people do not check their mobile phones, they are unable to satisfy this “check habit” or suppress the fear of missing out, leading to feel anxious and irritable. a survey conducted by hejab m. al fawareh and shaidah jusoh also found that people also often feel incomplete without their smartphones. of the 66 respondents, 61.41% strongly agreed or agreed with the statement, “i feel incomplete when my smartphone is not with me.” other implications of cell phone use in mental health symptoms were observed by thomée et al. in sweden. this study found a relationship between report of mental health and perceived stress of participants' accessibility, which is defined as the possibility to be disturbed at any moment of day or night. critics of smartphones have especially raised concerns about effects on youth. the presence of smartphones in everyday life may affect social interactions amongst teenagers. present evidence shows that smartphones are not only decreasing face-to-face social interactions between teenagers, but are also making the youth less likely to talk to adults. in a study produced by doctor lelia green at edith cowan university, researchers discovered that, “the growing use of mobile technologies implies a progressive digital colonization of children’s lives, reshaping the interactions of younger adults.” face-to-face interactions have decreased because of the increase in shared interactions via social media, mobile video sharing, and digital instant messaging. critics believe the primary concern in this shift is that the youth are inhibiting themselves of constructive social interactions and emotional practices. engaging in a strictly digital world may isolate individuals, causing lack of social and emotional development. other studies show that there is actually a positive social aspect from smartphone use. a study on whether smartphone presence changed responses to social stress conducted an experiment with 148 males and females around the age of 20. participants were split up into 3 groups where 1) phone was present and use was encouraged, 2) phone was present with use restricted, and 3) no phone access. they were exposed to a peer, social-exclusion stressor, and saliva samples measuring levels of alpha-amylase (saa), or stressor hormones, were measured throughout. the results showed that both of the phone-present groups had lower levels of saa and cortisol than the group without a phone, thus suggesting that the presence of a smartphone, even if it's not being used, can decrease the negative effects of social exclusion. health