In an influential study, researcher Hye-Jin Kim and colleagues at Seoul National University shed light on the role that family dysfunction—particularly domestic violence and parental addiction—has to play among South Korean teens in contributing to smartphone addiction. Using information gathered from a national 2013 survey sponsored by Korea’s National Information Agency, the study provides important insights into the environmental and interpersonal influences on youth digital behavior.
What Hye-Jin Kim Revealed through Her
Hye-Jin Kim's research used data from more than 3,000 school-enrolled teens through the Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale, a validated national instrument. Results were shocking:
Adolescents subjected to domestic violence were 1.74 times more likely to be smartphone addicted.
Adolescents whose parents were addicted to alcohol, drugs, or gambling were twice as likely to be addicted to smartphones.
Risk levels were significantly greater among adolescents whose self-control was low and whose friendship quality was poor.
Psychological Buffers Matter
A critical aspect of Hye-Jin Kim’s study is the protective power of psychological and social buffers. When teens had strong self-control or reported high-quality peer relationships, the link between family dysfunction and smartphone addiction significantly weakened.
This would mean that even though dysfunctional family systems bring severe risks, their impact may be mitigated by inner and social resilience.
Main Points from Hye-Jin Kim’s Research
Phone addiction isn’t a technology problem per se—it’s a sign of underlying social and emotional problems.
Adolescents living in violent or dysfunctional families tend to use their smartphones as a coping strategy and thus become excessively inclined.
Peer support and self-control act as potent shields that safeguard teens from addictions.
Attempts to reduce just screen time may disregard the reasons why there may be overuse.
Why Hye-Jin Kim’s Work Matters
The country boasts the highest level of smartphone penetration among youngsters. As dependency on the web increases worldwide, Hye-Jin Kim's study provides an important roadmap to public health initiatives, schooling programs, and parenting. Her research highlight the role of emotional and environmental considerations that need to go hand-in-hand with technological limits.
Final Thoughts
Hye-Jin Kim’s work urges parents, educators, and policymakers to look beyond the screen. Instead of simply regulating access, we must understand why adolescents seek refuge in their devices. The key may lie not in the tech, but in the family and social environments shaping how teens cope with stress, trauma, and unmet emotional needs.
By highlighting these complicated dynamics, Hye-Jin Kim forces us to reevaluate the way we speak about and address smartphone addiction—not only in South Korea, but worldwide.
Top comments (2)
Wow… this really hit home.
Thank you for sharing this, Min. What Hye-Jin Kim uncovered feels like something we all knew deep down, but didn’t have the data to say out loud: that phone addiction isn’t really about phones. It’s about pain, survival, and the quiet ways teens try to cope when their world feels unsafe.
The part that stayed with me most was how strong friendships and self-control soften the blow of family dysfunction. It’s not just about removing the screen, it’s about rebuilding the emotional scaffolding that should’ve been there all along.
This study matters,not just for Korea, but for everywhere that thinks “screen time” is the problem without asking why someone’s on their phone all night.
Sometimes the glow of a screen is the only light someone has. And we should ask what that says about the darkness around them.
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