Making Sense of Smartphone Addiction

Although smartphone addiction is not officially recognised as a psychiatric disorder, it is a popular topic of public discourse around the world, especially in relation to the zombified young people who seem to be glued to their smartphones. To date, however, research on smartphone and internet addiction has been limited: It is often based on quantitative surveys produced by researchers and mental health experts who rather arbitrarily and top-down determine how much time spent with a smartphone is problematic. Moreover, such studies are usually conducted with college students in English-speaking countries and assume that smartphone users behaviour is universal, regardless of social and cultural differences, historical attitudes towards media and patients perspectives. This project thus aims to address the urgent need for additional, qualitative and more nuanced research on this topic, to take into account social and cultural differences, and to consider the perspectives of those affected by smartphone addiction or related phenomena such as internet and gaming addiction. To this end, the project focuses on how affected young people experience and conceptualise smartphone addiction themselves, particularly in relation to the issues of guilt and self- control. In order to capture their perspectives, the study will involve extensive fieldwork in an Austrian clinic specialising in smartphone, gaming and internet addiction, conducted by a social and cultural anthropologist based at the University of Vienna. During several months, the researcher will spend time with patients and medical professionals, participate in various activities and conduct interviews. The project will not only explore how smartphone addiction is conceptualised by young people and mental health professionals but will also actively engage young people in discussions about the phenomenon by creating a collaborative artwork that expresses their views. This will include participatory workshops involving patients, mental health professionals, digital interface designers and artists who will enable the creation of a collaborative audio-visual work to be publicly exhibited. The project is situated at the Department for Social and Culturally Anthropology at the University of Vienna. Its interdisciplinary advisory board includes researchers from the Maynooth University (Ireland), Free University Berlin (Germany), Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin (Germany), Masaryk University (Czech Republic) and RMIT University Melbourne (Australia).