The recent research proved that students spending hours each day on the Internet, texting or talking on mobiles appeared to be more anxious, miserable people and got lower grades. The study involved 536 students representing 82 different majors.

During the research, the students recorded daily mobile use, and each of them took social science tests which measured anxiety and satisfaction with their life, or happiness. The study was divided between students who used their gadgets only to keep in touch, but were able to put it away and get on with other tasks. Another group was higher frequency users, who were unable to control phone use and therefore glued to their mobiles.

The researchers admitted that they chose college students for their study because they seem to be the first generation to grow up immersed in the digital technology. The students allowed the researchers to retrieve their cumulative grade point average, as well as to measure their texts and calls sent and received and overall use.

The researchers revealed a strong relationship between high mobile use and high anxiety: for example, the students who text under the table during lectures don’t do as well as students who leave the phone in the backpack.