There is also an indirect effect of process usage on smartphone addiction through smartphone habit.
This effect enforces the relation between process usage and addiction. Process usage can cause an
addiction directly and, thus, also indirectly. Therefore, process usage activities on smartphones are
typical activities that entail the process of developing smartphone addiction, where the rewarding
aspect is responsible for the repeating acts that lead to uncontrollable behavior. For example, when
checking your Facebook account for new notifications or newsfeeds, this new notification or
newsfeed act as a reward. Thus, checking will reoccur because of the reward and it can develop into
an addiction that can no longer be controlled.
Social usage of the smartphone has a direct effect on smartphone habits but does not directly affect
smartphone addiction. So, people who extensively use their smartphones for social purposes create
smartphone habits faster; in an indirect way, this could lead to smartphone addiction. This finding to
some extent contradicts past research on media addiction and social usage gratifications. In Li and
Chung (2004), internet addicts used the internet extensively for social purposes. In a more recent
study by Lopez-Fernandez, Honrubia-Serrano, Freixa-Blancart, and Wilson (2013), smartphone
addicts were found to spend most time for social purposes. Past research conclude that media
addicts spend most time on social applications and are dependent on those applications because
they isolate themselves (Lopez-Fernandez et. al., 2013). Thus, prior research claims that social usage
have a direct effect on smartphone addiction. An explanation for the conflicting findings could be