How does mobile ICT affect psychological unease? A longitudinal study

With an increasing discussion on the adverse impact of mobile technologies on wellbeing, there is a need to address the dispute on either mobile technologies use triggers psychological traits or vice versa. Based on a two-year longitudinal dataset covering over 6000 university respondents, this study provides robust evidence that mobile ICT use has both direct and indirect effects on psychological unease through a mediating effect of nomophobia. Our results reveal that nomophobia brings about psychological unease, such as perceived stress, depression, and loneliness, even after controlling for the effect of last year’s psychological status. In addition, nomophobia mediates the effect of mobile ICT use on psychological unease.