Has Smartphone Use Influenced Loneliness during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan?

Abstract

The influence of smartphone use on increased risk of feeling lonely has been recognized as a global public health concern. However, it is unclear whether this influence has changed during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, during which smartphones have become a particularly important means of communication due to health safety measures restricting personal interactions. We used Hiroshima University’s online survey data collected from 18–28 February 2022, to assess the impact of smartphone use on loneliness in Japan. The final sample included 2630 participants aged over 20 years, with loneliness measured using the UCLA scale and smartphone use calculated as the duration of usage in minutes/day. Weighted logit regression analysis was used to examine the association between smartphone use and loneliness, with other demographic, socioeconomic, and psychological characteristics as explanatory variables. Contrary to conventional evidence, our findings show that smartphone use mitigated the risk of loneliness during the pandemic. This was especially true among females under 65 years old. We found that age, subjective health status, future anxiety, and depression impacted this relationship. The findings of this study can help guide policymaking by showing the importance of providing adequate digital platforms to manage loneliness and mental health during times of isolation.

How Does Smartphone Use Impact Loneliness in the Post-COVID Landscape in Japan?

“…Recent research has shown that smartphone usage helped alleviate the risk of experiencing loneliness amid the COVID-19 pandemic [1,2]. These results contradict previous research before the pandemic, which demonstrated that greater smartphone usage increased the risk of loneliness [3,4].…”

“…The primary independent variable was smartphone use, assessed in minutes per day with the question, "On average, how many hours do you use your smartphone per day?" Additionally, as control variables, we incorporated gender, age, presence of children, residence, years of education, and financial literacy, all of which served as indicators of rational financial and health behaviors [1,23,24], drawing from the 2020 dataset. For the 2022 and 2023 waves, we expanded the set of control variables to encompass marital status, living status, employment status, household financial status, subjective health status, depression, future anxiety, financial satisfaction, and a myopic view of the future.…”

“…Most of these studies used cross-sectional data. Considering the intricate nature and divergent results of prior studies, longitudinal studies are required [1,21]. Thus, this study analyzed panel data from 2022 and 2023 to investigate the relationship between smartphones and loneliness after the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

A cross-sectional survey of material deprivation and suicide-related ideation among Vietnamese technical interns in Japan in 2021

“…The copyright holder for this this version posted December 14, 2022. ; https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.12.14.22283455 doi: medRxiv preprint loneliness during a pandemic, [38] a study conducted in Belgium during the COVID-19 pandemic that showed that those who felt lonely were more likely to use social media to cope with a lack of social contact,[39] and a study conducted in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic reported lower levels of adolescent loneliness among those who used technology to connect with society. [40] Thus, in the extraordinary situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is possible that young people were not dependent on social media, but rather used it as a tool to combat loneliness.…”

The Mediatory Role of the Boredom and Loneliness Dimensions in the Development of Problematic Internet Use

“…Loneliness may favor the likelihood in developing depressive and anxiety disorders, alcohol and/or substance use and abuse, as well as incentivizing smoking habits [39]. Both these dimensions have been further investigated due to their dramatic increase among young people, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic [38,[40][41][42][43][44]. Moreover, recent studies also explored the potential association between the boredom and loneliness dimensions with PIU, suggesting a hypothetical mediatory role of both dimensions in the onset and maintenance of PIU in vulnerable people, or suggesting the moderated role of distress tolerance in the association between PIU and boredom proneness/loneliness [36], even though there are not currently studies specifically investigating both dimensions together in PIU in Italian young adults [27][28][29][30][31][32][33].…”