The Relationship Between Physical Exercise and Mobile Phone Addiction of College Students from Low Social Classes

Abstract

Mobile phone addiction has become a common phenomenon among college students, which seriously affects their physical and mental health. In this process, individuals with a strong sense of loneliness tend to seek social support and belonging in the virtual network, which leads to the occurrence of mobile phone addiction. At the same time, studies have begun to explore ways to reduce mobile phone addiction by improving physical activity. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of low-level college students' physical exercise on mobile phone addiction, and focuses on the mediating mechanism of loneliness. The mobile phone addiction scale, the physical activity level scale, and the loneliness scale were selected as the subjects. SPSS 23.0 was used to perform descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, and bootstrap mediation effect test on the data. There were significant differences in gender dimensions between physical exercise, mobile phone addiction, and loneliness of low-level college students. Correlation analysis shows that there is a significant negative correlation between physical exercise and mobile phone addiction (r = -0.14, P < 0.01) and loneliness (r = -0.15, P < 0.01). Loneliness and mobile phone addiction (r = 0.29, P < 0.01) was significantly positively correlated. The test results of the mediating effect show that the 95% confidence interval of the indirect effect Bootstrap produced by loneliness does not contain a value of 0, indicating that loneliness has a significant mediating effect between the level of physical exercise and mobile phone addiction (standardized effect value = -0.58, Accounted for 29% of the total effect). The level of physical exercise of low-level college students is significantly negatively related to mobile phone addiction and loneliness, and loneliness is significantly positively related to mobile phone addiction. There is a mediating effect of loneliness between physical exercise and mobile phone addiction.

Current Status and Correlation of Physical Activity and Tendency to Problematic Mobile Phone Use in College Students

“…The physical activity level of college students was low, which is consistent with the survey results of Yang et al [ 32 ] on the physical exercise of college students in Guangzhou. Exercise intensity, duration, and amount were low among college students in Guangzhou, which may reduce the positive effects of exercise on problematic mobile phone use.…”

“…The level of physical activity, cell phone addiction tendency, withdrawal symptoms, social comfort, highlighting behavior, and mood alteration in the four dimensions of Chinese college students were significantly negatively correlated. According to previous research results, for college students who engage in physical activity, the greater the intensity, the longer the duration, and the greater the frequency, the lower their likelihood of becoming addicted to mobile phones [ 32 , 41 , 42 ]. People’s primitive instincts can be satisfied by a series of characteristics of the network, including its openness, virtue, concealment, richness, convenience, and stimulation from the point of view of instinct [ 43 ].…”

Analysis of mobile phone dependance and physical activity level among school students

“…The findings also supports the finding observed in a prior study done by Tong & Meng, revealed that consistent participation in PA may have higher levels of optimism and lower levels of smartphone addiction among students (Tong & Meng, 2023). The low level of PA among college students is significantly negatively related to smartphone addiction and loneliness (Yuan et al, 2022). In adolescents, involvement in physical exercise also effective in mitigating smartphone addiction by regulating the brain neurotrophic factor, endocrine system, and immune system (Tong & Meng, 2023).…”

The Relationship between Physical Exercise and Sleep Quality Among Chinese College Students: Mobile Phone Addiction as a Mediator

“…Research shows that physical exercise can improve the degree of mobile phone addiction of college students. [12] Proper physical exercise can divert college students' attention to mobile phones and reduce their mobile phone use time, at the same time, it can also improve the level of self-control of college students and further resist the temptation of mobile phones. [13] Hence, the relationship between physical exercise and sleep quality may be mediated by mobile phone addiction.…”