Are Smartphones Stress-inducing or Stress-buffering for Adolescents? An Experience Sampling Study

Despite the far-reaching impact of stress on overall well-being, current research offers little information on whether smartphone use is stress-inducing or stress-buffering for adolescents. Building on the transactional theory of stress, this study is the first to address the effect of smartphone use on perceived stress in adolescents (17,152 observations, N=184, 13-17 years old) with an experience sampling design combined with trace data. Our results show that smartphone use is stress-inducing for approximately 20% of our sample. There were no adolescents for whom using smartphones is stress-buffering. The results point to the importance of smartphone usage patterns besides the time spent using smartphones. Furthermore, the results also provide evidence for recent scholarship, arguing that media effects are not universal and that adolescents cannot be regarded as a homogenous group. Our work has important implications for future research, as well as for parents and educators.