Smartphones are a constant presence in college life, supporting everything from coursework and campus communication to social connection and entertainment. At the same time, the idea of “smartphone addiction” has become a common way to describe concerns about heavy phone use. But for Dar Meshi, associate professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations, that label is flawed.
Meshi recently co-authored a commentary in the journal Addictive Behaviors arguing that the concept of smartphone addiction is fundamentally incorrect. The problem, he explains, lies in confusing a tool with the rewards it delivers.
“Smartphones themselves are not addictive,” Meshi said. “They are delivery vehicles, similar to how syringes or pills deliver opioids. Smartphones simply provide access to many different rewards, and those rewards are what can cause problems.”
In clinical psychiatry, addictive disorders are typically tied to a specific reward that activates the brain’s reward system. Disorders are named after the substance or behavior used to obtain that reward, such as opioid use in opioid use disorder or gambling for money in gambling disorder. Smartphones, by contrast, are not rewarding on their own. They provide access to rewards such as social approval, entertainment and financial gains.
“What is often called ‘smartphone addiction’ is more accurately understood as problematic engagement with specific rewards that happen to be accessed through a phone,” Meshi said.
For college students, this distinction is especially important. Smartphones play a central role in learning, organization and social life, and Meshi cautions against framing the devices themselves as harmful.
“It is important for students to understand that their phone is not inherently addictive,” he said. “Smartphones can support learning, social connection and productivity. The more meaningful question concerns the rewards students are seeking through their phones and if going after these rewards causes problems.”
From a neuroscience perspective, smartphones can feel compelling because they reliably deliver rewards that activate the brain’s reward system. Over time, cues from our phones, such as notifications, icons or sounds, can trigger anticipatory responses in the brain tied to expected rewards, not the device itself.
Meshi argues that shifting the focus from smartphones to the rewards they deliver would improve how researchers, educators and students think about digital wellbeing. Rather than labeling devices as addictive, he encourages more precise conversations about intentional use, context and self-regulation.
By reframing the issue, Meshi’s commentary offers a clearer way to understand technology use on campus, one grounded in behavioral science and better suited to supporting student wellbeing.
By Claire Dippel