In this study, the empathy level of the respondents was higher than that of general
people, and personal distress that is included in affective empathy turned out to be an
influencing factor of smartphone addiction. Personal distress refers to a degree of pain
that a person experiences when he/she sees another person having pain[6]. Han (2013)
[5] explained that a female with a higher level of personal distress tends to be more
vulnerable to smartphone addiction because females have a higher level of empathy
and put more emphasis on relationship; this makes females spend more time using a
smartphone while being immersed in other people’s emotional states when they
interact with others via smartphone. However, it is also reported that a higher level of
empathy involves a higher level of compassion fatigue [14][15]. In other words, a
person with a higher empathy level experiences compassion fatigue [14] that is
secondary traumatic stress and is similar to post traumatic stress syndrome. Based on
the results of this study, it could be inferred that a person with higher affective
empathy has higher empathy with others’ painful emotion, and this would lead to a
higher degree of secondary psychological discomfort. Therefore, the higher personal
distress, the higher ability to share others’ pain; however, this simultaneously has a
negative effect on one’s psychological well-being who has a higher level of
empathy[14][15]. It is also worth to note that the experience of secondary
psychological discomfort due to empathy might make relationships developed
through smartphones less uncomfortable compared to direct relationships in reality,
and as a result, use of smartphones could increase. Thus it is required to develop a
mitigation measure for nursing students who have a higher level of personal distress.
Future research is needed to find the specific relation between personal distress and
smartphone use.