Attention or Distraction? The Impact of Mobile Phone on Users' Psychological Well-Being

• Main Authors: Jianxun Chu, Sara Qaisar, Zakir Shah, Afsheen Jalil
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-04-01
• Series: Frontiers in Psychology
• Subjects: mobile phone; distraction; attention control; cognitive emotional pre-occupation; psychological well-being
• Online Access: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.612127/full

Cumulative evidence has demonstrated that mobile phone distraction, in particular among emerging adults, is a growing problem. Considerable efforts have been made to contribute to the literature by proposing cognitive emotion pre-occupation which acts as an underlying mechanism through which mobile phone distraction results in a reduction in psychological well-being. The proposed model is supported by distraction-conflict theory which reveals that users, with high attention control, are better at coping with the negative consequences of mobile phone distraction. The data, consisting of 914 University students in China, was analyzed using statistical tools. The results support that mobile phone distraction has a significant positive relationship with cognitive emotional pre-occupation which negatively affects users' psychological well-being. Our findings also reveal that attention control moderated the mediation effect of cognitive emotional pre-occupation in association with mobile phone distraction and psychological well-being. The theoretical and practical implications are also discussed along with limitations and future research.