Analysis of nomofobic behaviors of adolescents regarding various factors

Abstract

Although the developments in technology have made our lives and daily activities easier, it is believed that problematic and excessive use of technology could have some negative effects on people. One of these negative effects is the prevalence of nomophobia, which is considered as a new phobia in recent years. Nomophobia is defined as the fear and anxiety when an individual cannot access his or her mobile/smart phone or cannot have the chance to communicate online and offline via mobile devices. Nomophobic tendencies can change individuals’ daily habits. Negative emotions due to nomophobic tendencies like fear and anxiety especially in young people is thought to affect their school lives and academic achievements. The purpose of this research is to analyze the prevalence of nomophobia among high school students regarding various factors. The Nomophobia Scale (NMP-Q), which was used in this study, was developed by Yildirim and Correia (2015), and adapted into Turkish by Yildirim, Sumuer, Adnan and Yildirim (2015). The study group consists of 475 high school students attending six different schools situated in diverse socio-economic areas in Izmir and Edirne in 2015-2016 education year. The study was conducted in survey model and descriptive statistics. T-test for independent samples and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) techniques were used at the analysis stage. According to the findings, mean scores obtained from the scale demonstrated that the levels of nomophobic behaviors of high school students were above the average. Besides, female students have higher nomophobia levels compared to male students in terms of gender variable and a significant difference was found in terms of the duration of mobile internet usage. A significant difference could not be found in terms of the variables such as grade, parents’ education levels, and the duration of smartphone usage. Furthermore, the study has revealed that high school students use their smartphones and mobile internet largely for social networks, music, communication, photographs, education, research, games and videos.