Sex, Age, and Smartphone Addiction Across 41 Countries

Abstract

Most studies of problematic smartphone use focus on younger participants in a single country, which makes global comparisons difficult. Here, we administered the Smartphone Addiction Scale (Short Version) to 50,423 participants aged 18 to 90 from 195 countries and subdivisions. The results showed that women scored 3.22 units higher than men, each year of age predicted a decrease of 0.18 units, and global scores increased by 0.66 units per year. Among the 41 countries with at least 100 participants, almost all showed a consistent pattern: women scored higher than men (B=-0.19 to 6.07), and there was a downward slope with age (B=-0.38 to -0.03), though the shape of the slope varied across countries. The highest problematic smartphone use scores were around Southeast Asia, and the lowest were in Europe. This global sample, currently the largest in the field, helps clarify the relationships between sex, age, and smartphone use.