Trialing a simple mobile phone dependency intervention strategy among Chinese college students

A global problem, mobile phone dependence causes physical and psychological problems for college students. We trial and assess a simple intervention strategy, the daily recording of mobile phone use to mitigate mobile phone dependency among Chinese college students. A randomized controlled trial was conducted among 110 college students, with the daily recording of mobile phone use over two weeks in the intervention group. Using Wilcoxon rank sum test and multivariate linear regression analysis, the effect of the daily recording intervention on reducing mobile phone dependence was assessed. After the daily recording intervention, the mobile phone dependence score of the intervention group decreased from 30.64 ± 9.9 to 24.44 ± 10.31, significantly lower than the control group (32.11 ± 8.51, P < 0.01). The total mobile phone using time declined from 6.22 ± 2.81 to 5.05 ± 2.85 h and was also lower than that of the control group (6.83 ± 2.98, P < 0.05). The mobile phone time watching videos and playing games dropped from 1.96 ± 1.70 to 1.09 ± 1.35 h and was lower than that of the control group (1.96 ± 1.4, P < 0.01). The results of linear regression indicate that daily recording intervention and regular exercise reduced mobile phone dependence significantly (P < 0.05). Daily recording of mobile phone use was a simple, but highly effective, effective intervention strategy reducing mobile phone dependence among Chinese college students. Daily exercise also reduced mobile phone dependence.