Fighting Mobile Phone Addiction with Forgiveness Following Interpersonal Transgressions: A Psychological Compensation...

Current research on addressing mobile phone addiction primarily focuses on mitigating the influence of psychopathological factors. In the present work, we conducted three studies to investigate a novel hypothesis that forgiveness, as a form of psychological compensation, may offer a previously underappreciated protective effect against mobile phone addiction in the aftermath of interpersonal transgressions. Study 1 (N = 391), a cross-sectional survey, established an association between negative life events and mobile phone addiction. Utilizing a recall methodology, Study 2 (N = 256) demonstrated that higher levels of forgiveness mitigated the adverse effect of interpersonal transgressions on mobile phone addiction. Moreover, forgiveness was particularly effective in reducing mobile phone addiction in cases involving mild-as opposed to severe-transgressions. Subsequently, in Study 3 (N = 175), we employed a scenario-based approach to investigate the mechanisms through which forgiveness mitigates mobile phone addiction following interpersonal transgressions. The results indicated that social bonding-specifically, reduced social distance and increased positive affect toward transgressors-mediated the relationship between forgiveness and mobile phone addiction. In future research and practice, forgiveness-based interventions may be leveraged to reduce mobile phone addiction.