Objective  To examine current situation of cellphone use and depression among middle school students in Ningbo city for guiding the students to use cellphone reasonably and to adjust emotion.

  Methods  We selected 3 264 students from 2 junior high schools and 2 senior high schools in 4 regions of Ningbo municipality with random cluster sampling and then conducted a self-administered survey with a general questionnaire and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) among the students between May and June 2015.

  Results  Of the students, 555 (17.0%) and 1 538 (47.1%) considered cellphone use being in great and general need; 954 (29.0%) regarded cellphone use being dispensable and only 226 (6.9%) deemed cellphone use being unnecessary. There was a significant difference in cellphone use among the students of various grade and the number of students reporting cellphone use time of 2 – 4 and 5 – 6 hours per day was the highest for the junior high school students of grade 3. For all the students, 2 315 (70.92%) were identified without depression and 518 (15.87%), 319 (9.76%), and 112 (3.45%) were identified with minor, moderate, and major depression, respectively. The results of logistic regression analysis indicated that depression was correlated with gender, positively with time of cellphone use and reversely with paternal and maternal education level among the students.

  Conclusion  Cellphone use is prevalent and associates with depression among middle school students; the situation needs to be concerned.