In Korea, cell phone usage = depression?

The Los Angeles Times is reporting on a South Korean study presented to the American Psychiatric Association (Time Magazine also has the story) that points to a possible connection between cell phone usage and depression (plus anxiety and stress, for good measure).

The teen obsession with yakking, text messaging and ring-tone swapping on cellphones might mean more than a whopping phone bill. For the most crazed, it's a sign of unhappiness and anxiety, according to a new medical study.

A survey of 575 South Korean high school students found that the top third of users — students who used their phones more than 90 times a day — frequently did so because they were unhappy or bored. They scored significantly higher on tests measuring depression and anxiety than students who used their phones a more sedate 70 times daily.

The study, presented Tuesday at a meeting of the American Psychiatric Assn. in Toronto, was among the first to explore the emotional significance of teens' cellphone habits as the device becomes more entrenched in today's youth culture.

The LAT drives home the importance of this in the US, tellings us that two of every five American youths from ages eight to eighteen have a cellphone, and that students in grades seven through twelve spend an average of an hour a day on their cellphones — about the same time they devote to homework.

Some research has shown that students incorporate cellphones into their personal identities. For teens, cellphones were "not just objects or communications tools. They were portals for being in touch with other people — extensions of themselves."

But all is not lost. Ever hopeful that things are not as dismal as they sound, the leader author of this report, Dr. Jeehyan Ha, said heavy cellphone users involved in his study weren't clinically depressed. Rather, he said, the students probably had some serious cases of teen angst.

Well, heck. I had that!

Dr. Ha suggested these kids may be unhappy because of a problem in their lives or anxious about their social status, and "they are trying to make themselves feel better by reaching out to others." So that could make cell phones a good thing, right?

Both the LAT and Time asked, given that cellphone use in South Korea is higher than in the US, do the findings applied to American teens? James Katz of Rutgers University professor says yes:

A central concern for teenagers is being in touch with friends and drawing boundaries about who's in and who's out. People who are anxious and depressed are concerned about whether they are in or out and naturally often look at their cellphones to see if they've gotten answers to the text messages they sent out.

For anxious teens, one scientist commented, text messaging can also become a substitute for face-to-face communication. You want to be sure that you are not reinforcing social isolation.

Not everyone is convinced. Dr. Bruce Spring, of USC's Keck School of Medicine, said that in some cases, light or no use of a cellphone might be a more serious sign:

Teens who are really anxious and depressed won't be sending messages or making calls.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't, I guess. Time Magazine ends on this somewhat bright note:

Either extreme may be worrisome, but parents take heart: As an adaptive response, inappropriate cell use is a whole lot better than drugs or antisocial behavior—but it may deserve some attention.

Yeah, well I guess there's that, although cell phone bills can be as expensive as a drug habit.