When Smartphones Fragment the Mind: Exploring the Links between Fragmented Smartphone Use and Anxiety among College Students through Distraction and Procrastination

With the widespread adoption of smartphones among college students, fragmented smartphone use has become a defining feature of their digital lives. Fragmented smartphone use may exacerbate anxiety among college students; however, existing research has yet to provide clear empirical evidence for this relationship, and studies that systematically examine its underlying mechanisms remain scarce. To address this gap, this study combined self-report questionnaires with application logs obtained through a monitoring program installed on participants’ smartphones, which continuously tracked their usage over a full week, yielding valid data from 322 Chinese college students. Using a structural equation model (SEM), we examined the relationship between fragmented smartphone use and anxiety, focusing on the mediating roles of distraction and procrastination. The results revealed that although fragmented smartphone use itself did not exert a significant direct effect on anxiety (β = -0.034, p > 0.05), distraction emerged as a significant mediator in this relationship (β = 0.054, 95% CI: 0.003–0.104, p < 0.05), whereas procrastination did not play a significant role (β = 0.009, 95% CI: -0.032–0.051, p > 0.05). These findings underscore the pivotal influence of distraction, enriching our understanding of how fragmented smartphone use shapes psychological well-being. Importantly, by leveraging objective, real-time behavioral data, this study provides robust empirical evidence to advance theoretical modeling and to inform precise intervention strategies for promoting digital health among college students.