Mobile phone dependence linked to creativity in surprising ways among adolescents

A study of Chinese adolescents revealed a complex relationship between mobile phone dependence and two forms of creativity: artistic and scientific. At low levels of mobile phone dependence, higher dependence was associated with lower scientific and artistic creativity. However, once dependence passed a certain threshold, the link with scientific creativity disappeared, while the link with artistic creativity became positive. In other words, after this threshold, greater mobile phone dependence was tied to higher artistic creativity. The paper was published in the Journal of Creative Behavior.

Creativity is the ability to generate original, useful, and meaningful ideas or solutions by combining imagination with knowledge and experience. It involves flexible, divergent thinking and seeing connections that others might overlook.

Artistic creativity refers to expressing ideas, emotions, or concepts through mediums such as painting, music, writing, or performance, emphasizing aesthetic and emotional impact. Scientific creativity, on the other hand, involves problem-solving, hypothesis generation, and innovative experimentation that can advance knowledge or technology.

In adolescents, creativity plays a particularly important role because cognitive abilities, identity formation, and social awareness are rapidly developing. During this stage, young people often show heightened sensitivity to self-expression, making artistic creativity especially important for emotional regulation and identity exploration. Scientific creativity in adolescence emerges through curiosity, questioning assumptions, and experimenting with new ways of understanding the world. Both forms of creativity thrive in supportive environments, such as classrooms that encourage exploration and families that value curiosity.

Study author Qing Wang and colleagues sought to explore the relationship between mobile phone dependence and both artistic and scientific creativity. They hypothesized that higher dependence would be linked to lower self-esteem, which in turn would predict decreased scientific and artistic creativity. They also proposed that higher self-esteem would foster a stronger creative identity, which would then support both forms of creativity.

The study included 2,922 elementary and junior high school students from Beijing, Hubei, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang provinces in China. About 47% were girls, and all participants were Han Chinese. The average age was 12 years, with ages ranging from 10 to 15. Of these, 1,461 participants were elementary school students.

Participants completed several assessments: mobile phone dependence (Test of Mobile Phone Dependence, e.g., “I use my phone when I am feeling lonely” or “I set a time limit on how much I can use my phone, but I am unable to keep it”), everyday creativity across six domains (Middle School Students’ Everyday Creativity Questionnaire), self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale), and creative identity (Short Scale of Creative Self).

The results showed that when mobile phone dependence was low, higher levels of dependence were associated with lower scientific and artistic creativity. However, after dependence crossed a specific threshold, the negative association with scientific creativity disappeared, and the relationship with artistic creativity became positive. In other words, above the threshold, adolescents with higher dependence tended to score higher on artistic creativity.

The researchers also tested a statistical model in which self-esteem and creative identity served as mediators between mobile phone dependence and creativity. The results indicated that this mediation pathway was plausible for both scientific and artistic creativity, but the exact direction of the links depended on whether a participant was above or below the threshold of dependence.

“This finding highlights that educators can mitigate the adverse impacts of MPD [mobile phone dependence] on scientific and artistic creativity by improving adolescent self-esteem. Moreover, educators can mitigate the adverse impacts of MPD on artistic creativity by enhancing creative identity among adolescents with mildly elevated MPD. In particular, educators could improve adolescents’ thought processes involved in self-development through activities such as journaling and self-evaluations. In addition, adolescents’ social comparisons could significantly influence this process, and comparisons with others’ creativity via social media may frequently result in diminished self-esteem,” the study authors concluded.

The study sheds light on the links between mobile phone dependence and creativity. However, it should be noted that the design of this study does not allow any definitive causal inferences to be derived from the results.

The paper, “The Different Relationships Between Mobile Phone Dependence and Adolescents’ Scientific and Artistic Creativity: Self-Esteem and Creative Identity as Mediators,” was authored by Qing Wang, Hongfei Xiao, Hao Yin, Jiamin Wei, Shuo Li, and Baoguo Shi.