Addiction to smartphones in Arabs is associated with severe depressive symptoms and insomnia: a cross-sectional study

Addiction to smartphones is a global issue. Mental health disturbance is an emerging factor implicated in smartphone addiction. Whether depressive symptoms and anxiety are implicated in smartphone addiction in developing countries such as Jordan is a nexus that warrants investigation. The present study investigated whether depressive symptoms and insomnia are correlated with smartphone addiction in a cohort of Jordanian participants. We adopted a cross-sectional design for a convenient sample, smartphone addiction, depressive symptoms, and insomnia were assessed using validated scales. Data analysis from 484 participants revealed that smartphone addiction was reported in 180 (37.1%) of the participants. Symptoms of severe depression and severe insomnia were reported in 174 (35.9%) and 198 (40.9%) of the participants respectively. The multivariable regression analysis showed that severe depressive symptoms and severe insomnia were significantly associated with addiction to smartphones (OR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.11-2.55, p = 0.01) and (OR = 2.19, 95% CI = 1.46-3.29, p < 0.001) respectively. In conclusion, poor mental health outcomes are correlated with unhealthy lifestyle habits such as addiction to smartphones, the addressing these alarming mental health symptoms is required to optimize the well-being of the community.