Synthesis Worksheet

1. What is your research question(s)?: To what extent does the use of smartphones contribute to mental health issues among teenagers?

Step 1: Identify your sources. Write the last name and title. What are the main ideas of each source? (Make sure you have at least 2 per source).
Make use of your Source Charts!

Source 1: Yon. Prevalence of problematic smartphone usage and associated mental health outcomes amongst children and young people: a
systematic review, meta-analysis, and GRADE of the evidence.
Main ideas
Analysis of problematic issues that arise due to mental health issues
Analysis of how young people’s mental health is affected by smartphones

Source 2: Souza. Impact of Problematic Smartphone Use on Mental Health of Adolescent Students: Association with Mood, Symptoms of
Depression, and Physical Activity
Main ideas
Impacts of smartphone use on the mental health of the adolescent student
A systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the prevalence of PSU and quantify the association with mental health harms.

Source 3: Anya. It's A Smartphone Life: More Than Half Of U.S. Children Now Have One."
Main ideas
Life with smartphones
What do children do with smartphones?

Source 4: Jiang. Teens, Social Media and Technology 2018

Main ideas
Impact of social media on teenagers
Smartphone addiction

Source 5: Sehar. Cell phone addiction and psychological and physiological health in adolescents.
Main ideas
Cellphone addiction
Social media addiction
Source 6: Pignatiello. Smartphones, social media use, and youth mental health
Main ideas
Possible solutions for combating mental health issues among teenagers who use smartphones
How to control smartphone usage

Step 2: Find the ideas/themes/arguments that repeat in two or more sources and group them to create arguments for your research question.

idea/theme/argument 1: Impacts of smartphones on adolescent mental health

idea/theme/argument 2: smartphone addiction

idea/theme/argument 3: Other effects of smartphone addiction

Step 3:
Fill in the Synthesis Matrix based on the recurring ideas throughout the sources.
1. Determine three main themes/arguments from your sources and add them to the columns below.
2. Fill the charts with information from the sources. Include summaries, paraphrases, and/or quotes as supporting evidence for these
themes/arguments. (You can copy and paste the information from your Source Charts!).

Synthesis Matrix:

Topic: Influence of Smartphone Use On Teenagers’ Mental Health

Research Question: To what extent do smartphones contribute to mental health issues among teenagers?
Theme #1 Theme #2 Theme #3
Impacts of smartphones on smartphone addiction Other effects of smartphone
adolescent mental health addiction
Source #1 PSU was reported in Both the mainstream media Nonetheless, recent years
approximately one in every and researchers have raised have seen an explosion in
four CYP and accompanied the possibility that people can research considering the
by an increased odds of become addicted to prevalence of problematic
poorer mental health. PSU smartphone use, though in the smartphone use (PSU), which
is an evolving public health academic realm, this is has been operationalised in
concern that requires controversial such a way that it maps onto
greater study to determine concepts of behavioural
the boundary between addiction: tolerance,
helpful and harmful withdrawal (dysphoria when
technology use. the battery dies),
preoccupation, neglect of
other activities, subjective
loss of control and continued
use despite evidence of harm
Source #2 Problematic smartphone use in Smartphone Addiction Scale (to Problematic smartphone use in
adolescent students can impair measure problematic smartphone adolescent students can impair
their mental health use), Adolescent students with their mental health and behavior,
 problematic smartphone use thereby affecting academic
presented with more mood performance and interpersonal
disturbances and symptoms of relationships as well as reducing
depression than did adolescent time spent on physical activity.
students without problematic Overall, physical inactivity and
smartphone use. problematic smartphone use can
reduce vigor and increase
symptoms of depression in
adolescent students.
Source #3 And 84 percent of teenagers Teens report spending only 3
now have their own phones, percent of their screen time on
immersing themselves in a rich creative pursuits like writing,
and complex world of or making art, or music —
experiences that adults outside of homework or school
sometimes need a lot of projects.
decoding to understand.
Source #4 “Because teens are killing Some 95% of teens now say they Similar shares think social media
people all because of the have or have access to a distorts reality and gives teens an
things they see on social smartphone, which represents a unrealistic view of other people’s
media or because of the things 22-percentage-point increase lives (15%), or that teens spend
that happened on social from the 73% of teens who said too much time on social media
media.” (Girl, age 14) this in 2014-2015. Smartphone (14%).
ownership is nearly universal
among teens of different genders,
races and ethnicities and
socioeconomic backgrounds.
Source #5 When a person uses Such too much dependency Mobile addiction has
his/her cell phone most makes us "Mobile physical effects and
of the time, unable to cut addictive ."Mobile phones psychological and academic
back on cell phone usage, make our lives easier, but effects at the same time.
using cell phones as a on the other hand, it ties us. Sleep deficit, anxiety,
solution to boredom, stress, and depression, all
feeling anxiety or associated with internet
depression when your abuse, have been related to
 phone is out of your mobile phone usage.
range, losing your
relationships, research
says, "when cell phone
use becomes an
addiction, the behavior
becomes stressful."
Source #6 70% of teenagers use social
Social media can affect media multiple times per  Evidence from various
adolescents' self-view and day, up from a third of teens cross-sectional,
interpersonal in 2012.10 The percentage of longitudinal, and
relationships through Ontario's teenagers who empirical studies
social comparison and reported spending five or implicates
hostile interactions, more hours a day on social smartphone and
including cyberbullying; media increased from 11% social media use in
moreover, social media in 2013, to 16% in 2015 and the increase in
content often involves 20% in 2017.1 A mental distress, self-
normalization and injurious behavior,
promotes self-harm and and suicidality
suicidality among youth. among youth; there
is a dose-response
In the last decade, relationship, and the
increasing mental effects appear to be
distress and treatment greatest among girls.
for mental health
conditions among youth
in North America has
paralleled a steep rise in
smartphones and social
media by children and
adolescents.