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Researchers are revealing more ways smartphones are disrupting the lives of college students. While these devices are important for keeping people connected with friends and family, a new study has linked frequent cell phone use to anxiety, lower grades and reduced happiness in students.

Lead researchers Andrew Lepp, Ph.D., Jacob Barkley, Ph.D., and Aryn Karpinski, Ph.D. of Kent State University, surveyed more than 500 university students.

Researchers said that daily cell phone use was recorded along with a clinical measure of anxiety and students' level of satisfaction with their lives. Researchers also looked at official university records to get students cumulative college grade point average (GPA).

The findings revealed that cell phone use was negatively related to GPA and positively related to anxiety. Researchers noted that GPA was positively related to happiness while anxiety was negatively related to happiness.

Researchers concluded that high frequency cell phone users tended to have lower GPA, higher anxiety, and lower satisfaction with life (happiness) compared to students who used cell phones less often.

The findings are published in the journal Computers in Human Behavior.