The Relationship between Meaning in life, Smartphone addiction and Well-being: An Investigation

The integration of smartphone in daily life has provided plethora of opportunity for constant social communication, information and entertainment. Unfortunately, this has also resulted in increased addiction for smartphone. There is dearth of research addressing the association between smartphone addiction with important psycho-social dimensions. Thus, in this context the aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between meaning in life, smartphone addiction and both types of well-being (subjective well-being & psychological well-being). Secondly, the study explored the mediational role of smartphone addiction between meaning in life and well-being. The data was collected from five hundred nine (n=509) adult participants. Findings of the study revealed that (i) dimensions of meaning in life were significantly associated with smartphone addiction (ii) efficacy was negatively associated with smartphone addiction whereas personal & social involvement, and traditional value were positively associated with smartphone addiction (iii) smartphone addiction was negatively associated with psychological well-being but not with subjective well-being (iv) smartphone addiction mediated the relationship between meaning in life (value & self-worth) and psychological well-being. Results of the present study may imply that enhancing efficacy might help in mitigate negative consequences associated with smartphone addiction. The findings of the study also provide indications for future research to explore the relationship between smartphone addiction and psycho-social variables in an in-depth manner.