How Smartphone Addiction Affects Adolescent Students’ Work Engagement and Psychological Well-Being

Multiple constituencies (e.g., the government, schools, parents, students) invest escalating amounts of resources in various educational expenses with the hope that students acquire knowledge and become healthy individuals. Running counter to all of these efforts, adolescent phone addiction often leads to anxiety, depression, and reduced academic performance. We explore how adolescent students’ smartphone addiction affects their work engagement and psychological well-being (through reduced perceived control), and we examine interventions to reduce the negative impact of smartphone addiction. Data from two laboratory studies and one field study at a vocational school provide unique insights on how marketers, schools, and public policy makers can help control smartphone addiction and improve education effectiveness.