Electronic Device Use: A Review of the Literature on Addictive Behaviors
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Summary
This report, sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), addresses the prevalence and safety implications of excessive electronic device use while driving. The primary research question was to determine whether this behavior constitutes a formal addiction, why it persists, and what countermeasures are effective. The motivation stems from the ubiquity of smartphones and concerns that drivers may be addicted to their devices, leading to dangerous distracted driving behaviors. The authors conducted a comprehensive state-of-knowledge review, consulting over 270 sources from academic, government, and private-sector disciplines, including human factors, traffic safety, psychology, and demography. Of these, 155 sources were critically reviewed using a structured document summary template. The review prioritized studies from the United States to ensure applicability to national social and legislative contexts. The methodology involved synthesizing literature on distracted driving, behavioral addiction models, and traffic safety outcomes to map the relationship between device dependency and driving performance. The findings indicate that excessive device use does not meet the formal Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria for addiction, as users do not demonstrate diminished recognition of problems, inability to abstain, or impaired behavioral control. Instead, the authors classify this behavior as "problematic device use" (PDU), which mimics addiction through cravings and reliance on devices for distress relief. PDU is associated with significant traffic safety risks, increasing crash probability by up to 30 times and contributing to crash severity. The behavior is most prevalent among young drivers (ages 16–25) and is correlated with personality traits such as low self-esteem, high sensation-seeking, impulsivity, and extraversion. "Addictive design" features in apps, such as endless scrolling and personalized feeds, exacerbate PDU by capitalizing on users' desires for social interaction and accomplishment. While only an estimated 2–4% of drivers exhibit PDU habits, these individuals are at elevated risk for crashes and other risky driving behaviors. The significance of this report lies in its reframing of distracted driving from a simple distraction issue to a complex behavioral problem rooted in psychological and sociocultural factors. By distinguishing PDU from clinical addiction, the report suggests that existing countermeasures can be adapted to address this specific population. Recommended strategies include information-enhancing approaches to raise awareness of risks, behavior-reinforcing measures to restrict phone use, and capacity-building interventions to address underlying psychological issues. The report concludes that consistent measures and further on-road studies are needed to better understand the mechanisms of PDU and to develop targeted safety programs.
Key finding
Excessive electronic device use while driving does not qualify as a formal addiction under DSM-5 criteria but is best described as problematic device use, which mimics addictive behaviors and significantly increases crash risk.
Methodology
review
Sample size: 155
Provenance
The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed. Discovered via bulk_ingest_rosap on 2026-05-23 (6 acquisition events logged).
| Stage | Outcome | Tool | Model | Prompt | Attempts | Completed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| discover | success | rosap | — | — | 2 | 2026-05-23 |
| archive | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| extract | success | cached | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
| clean | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| chunk | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-01 |
| embed | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-06-02 |
| enrich | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| promote | success | — | — | — | 1 | 2026-05-23 |
| summarize | success | llm | qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant | summ-v5 | 3 | 2026-06-10 |
| tag | success | vector_similarity | — | — | 19 | 2026-06-11 |
| verify | partial | — | — | — | 2 | 2026-06-10 |
Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-10; verification: verified_with_issues.
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Information type
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- Empirical Findings: observational prevalence
- Theoretical Contribution: theory or model, conceptual framework