Smartphone Addiction Scale: What the Original Study Can Tell You
Understand the adolescent SAS-SV study, its limits and a practical way to reflect on phone habits without assigning yourself a diagnosis.
A questionnaire can help researchers study patterns. It cannot, by itself, tell every visitor what a phone habit means or whether that person has a disorder.
This page explains the original short-version study. It does not administer a clinical screening tool or assign a diagnosis.
Who was studied?
Kwon and colleagues' 2013 paper developed and evaluated the Smartphone Addiction Scale–Short Version, or SAS-SV.
The study involved 540 adolescents in South Korea, with an average age of 14.5 years. The participants were not a sample of college students.
The authors proposed cutoffs based on that sample. They also identified limits to generalizing the findings and to using them for clinical diagnosis, since the research was not conducted in a clinical setting.
What does that mean for a reader?
The original study does not justify assigning every adult visitor a mild, moderate or severe label. A score needs to be understood in the context of the version used, the population, the language and the purpose of the assessment.
This page therefore does not turn the study's proposed thresholds into a personal verdict. It also does not infer brain changes, depression or another condition from an answer about phone use.
Start with a situation you want to change
You can make a useful adjustment without scoring yourself. Try this brief reflection:
- Name one situation. For example, opening a feed while waiting for dinner to cook.
- Name what you would prefer. Perhaps choosing music or preparing tomorrow's lunch.
- Choose one reversible change. Move an app away from your first home screen, or turn off one nonessential notification.
- Notice the practical result. Did the change help in that situation? Keep it, adapt it or undo it.
Keep access to essential alerts, accessibility features, work requirements and people who need to reach you. The purpose is a workable choice, not the lowest possible screen-time number.
You can write this on paper. No account, diagnostic label or habit history is required.
When to ask for support
If phone habits cause significant distress or interfere with relationships, responsibilities or daily functioning, consider speaking with a qualified professional. You do not need a particular questionnaire score before asking for help.
Correction history
October 22, 2026: We corrected the original study population from college students to adolescents. We removed unsupported population statistics, diagnostic severity bands and claims that questionnaire answers identify specific brain changes. This is an editorial source correction, not a completed clinical review.
Frequently asked questions
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