Recent literature has suggested that smartphone addiction is negatively associated with users’ psychosocial well-being. Much of the research on this subject, however, is of a correlational nature, which has been pointed out as an important limitation that does not allow distinguishing the antecedents of the consequences. In this study, 416 smartphone users were followed for 1 year (three waves separated by 6 months each) to assess the relationship between smartphone addiction and social support. Cross-lagged model results indicated that social support predicts later addiction to the smartphone and that smartphone addiction decreases social support over time. Growth mixture model results indicated that the decrease in social support during the follow-up year was higher for users with greater smartphone addiction at the beginning of the study. Multivariate and univariate analyses of variance indicated that some personal characteristics of users (extroversion, neuroticism, and sensation-seeking) could affect the evolution of social support related to smartphone addiction. In general, these results suggest that the extensive use of a social communication technology such as the smartphone could have the paradoxical effect of diminishing the psychosocial well-being of its users.

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For approximately fifty years, scholars have empirically confirmed the benefits of social support for health and well-being. This empirical evidence comes from cross-sectional and longitudinal studies carried out both in the general and at-risk populations (Holt-Lunstad, Smith,

Smartphone use has brought convenience to users, although its excessive use and addiction might also have negative consequences. Using a representative sample of 526 smartphone users in Spain, the present study analyzes smartphone extensive use and addiction as well as its relationship to smartphone harm. Selfreported and scanned data were obtained from users and their smartphones. Multivariate linear regression analyses showed that higher levels of smartphone extensive use were found for female respondents, those high on general propensity to risk, neuroticism, and low on conscientiousness, openness, or social support. Multivariate binary logistic results showed that general propensity to risk and low social support were predictive of smartphone addiction. The combination of high smartphone extensive use and low social support was positively and significantly related to the existence of smartphone harm as well as higher levels of risk attitudes toward smartphone use. These results might indicate that when low social support is coupled with an extensive smartphone use, respondents not only show a more positive attitude toward risky behaviors while using their smartphone but, also, a greater level of harm is found in their terminals.