The DOI matches its Crossref record; 39 of the 39 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Smartphone and social media use contributed to individual tendencies towards social media addiction in Italian adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic
Abstract
Introduction Adolescents in remote education during the COVID-19 pandemic had few opportunities to socialize in person, resulting in a significant rise in the use of social networks or instant messaging applications. However, excessive use may promote addictive tendencies towards these platforms, with negative consequences for adolescents' well-being.Aims In this study, we investigated the prevalence of smartphone and social media application use in early-to-late adolescents in remote education. We examined the relative impact of different social media applications on self-reported tendencies toward social media addiction.Methods The sample consisted of 765 Italian adolescents (Age: M = 14.11 ± 2.2; 401 females) who reported on use of the smartphone, social media applications, namely WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Telegram, Messenger, and YouTube. Mean differences in social media addiction across group reporting different patterns of social media use were investigated. The contribution of each social media application in predicting social media addiction was determined using a random forest algorithm.Results On average, adolescents using just WhatsApp and YouTube reported the lowest social media addiction compared with peers also using Instagram or TikTok (or both of them). Overall, we found time spent on smartphone, and use of TikTok were the strongest predictors of social media addiction, followed by use of Facebook, Telegram, Messenger, and Twitter. Instagram, Snapchat, and WhatsApp use showed no effect when examined together with the other platforms.Conclusions Findings indicated that TikTok was the most addictive application during the COVID-19 pandemic, overshadowing other very popular applications with similar visual affordances.
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“Among the included studies, only four reported data about total daily screen time [67–70], and four detailed the amount the time spent on TikTok [42, 67, 71, 72].”
From Scrolling through adolescence: a systematic review of the impact of TikTok on adolescent mental health (2025) · cites this paper as [69]
In the citing paper
“Eleven studies used self-developed questionnaires for outcome evaluation [42, 67–72, 74, 80–82], of which only six paired it with standardized measures [67–69, 71, 72, 80, 81].”
From Scrolling through adolescence: a systematic review of the impact of TikTok on adolescent mental health (2025) · cites this paper as [69]
In the citing paper
“Marengo et al. [69] found that time spent on the smartphone and TikTok were the strongest predictors of risk of SM addiction.”
From Scrolling through adolescence: a systematic review of the impact of TikTok on adolescent mental health (2025) · cites this paper as [69]
In the citing paper
“The analyzed effects encompassed lower life satisfaction [79], increased depressive symptoms [68], higher levels of anger and loneliness [72], risk of PTU [69, 83, 84], increased body image concerns, and self-esteem issues [42, 70, 80], as well as the rapid spreading of functional tic-like behaviors [76, 77].”
From Scrolling through adolescence: a systematic review of the impact of TikTok on adolescent mental health (2025) · cites this paper as [69]
In the citing paper
“Some of them highlighted that time spent on TikTok correlates both with PTU as well as risk of mental distress and depressive symptoms in teens [68, 69, 85].”
From Scrolling through adolescence: a systematic review of the impact of TikTok on adolescent mental health (2025) · cites this paper as [69]
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Chao, M., Lei, J., Ru, H., Jiang, Y., & Yang, H. (2023) · Psychiatry Research · doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115247 · Cited by 219
Research trends in social media addiction and problematic social media use: A bibliometric analysis
Pellegrino, A., Stasi, A., & Bhatiasevi, V. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1017506 · Cited by 212
“Recent evidence suggests that social networking sites have become increasingly popular among adolescents following the strict policies implemented by many countries to counter the COVID-19 pandemic, including social distancing, “lockdowns,” and quarantine measures (4).”
BackgroundYao, N., Chen, J., Huang, S., Montag, C., & Elhai, J. D. (2023) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2023.107751 · Cited by 90
Conte, G., Iorio, G. D., Esposito, D., Romano, S., Panvino, F., Maggi, S., Altomonte, B., Casini, M. P., Ferrara, M., & Terrinoni, A. (2025) · European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry · doi:10.1007/s00787-024-02581-w · Cited by 84
Dam, V. A. T., Dao, N. G., Nguyen, D. C., Vu, T. M. T., Boyer, L., Auquier, P., Fond, G., Ho, R. C. M., Ho, C. S. H., & Zhang, M. W. B. (2023) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0286766 · Cited by 77
“It was found that individuals who used more visual forms of social media, such as Instagram and Tik Tok, had higher levels of social media addiction as compared to conventional platforms like Whatsapp and Tik Tok [7].”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Marengo, D., Angelo Fabris, M., Longobardi, C., & Settanni, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Turin (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Longobardi, Claudio
- Venue
- Addictive Behaviors
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-03
- Volume
- 126
- Pages
- 107204
- ISSN
- 0306-4603 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3216036569
- Cited by
- 175
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 47 · 2023: 50 · 2022: 18
- FWCI
- 39.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Addictive Behaviors (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Institutional Research Information System University of Turin (University of Turin) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
- Keywords
- social media addiction, adolescents, smartphone use, COVID-19 pandemic, distance education, TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, instant messaging apps, social networking sites, visual affordances, youth welfare
- MeSH terms
- Smartphone, Internet Addiction Disorder, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Adolescent, Female, Humans, Pandemics, Social Media
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