Insights, Trends, Gaps, and Future Direction in Problematic Smartphone Use Interventions: A Systematic Review

Problematic smartphone use (PSU) increasingly impacts mental health and daily life, prompting efforts in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) to develop interventions. Despite the application of user-centered design principles, there are notable gaps in intervention effectiveness and generalizability. This review analyzes 46 peer-reviewed studies with 18,122 participants and addresses the lack of clear scholarly synthesis to uncover trends and pinpoint areas needing improvement. It evaluates interaction design strategies and their limitations in achieving sustained behavior change, highlighting how intervention duration and user diversity affect outcomes. The review identifies key trends and gaps in PSU intervention design and proposes eight research questions to advance the field. These questions aim to enhance the design, implementation, and evaluation of PSU interventions, ensuring they are more effective and broadly applicable. This work provides a theoretical foundation and recommendations for future research to advance interactive PSU design and evaluation strategies.