Nomophobia: Is Smartphone Addiction a Genuine Risk for Mobile Learning?

Y

5

Teaching Methods; Technological Literacy; Qualitative Research; Telecommunications; Handheld Devices; Classification; Student Surveys; Student Attitudes; Program Development; Undergraduate Students; Foreign Countries; Self Evaluation (Individuals); Risk

Repeated surveys have shown that all students at our university have smartphones and use them regularly both at home and in the university. Excessive regular use of anything, including digital devices, can lead to addiction which has promoted researchers to classify and label smartphone addiction as "nomophobia". Using a self-assessment survey developed at Iowa State University this papers evaluates whether nomophobia is a problem at the institution and to what extent. A non-representative sample of 104 students showed that a small minority (<3%) could be classified as having severe nomophobia and almost 40% as moderately nomophobic. The remaining students were classed as mildly nomophobic with absolutely zero students being categorized as not nomophobic. This creates a potential risk for any teacher-led activities, such as mobile learning, which encourage further use of mobile devices. It is therefore recommended that this situation be monitored and that the issue of nomophobia be included in future programs teaching digital literacy. Further research using qualitative methods is recommended to gain more accurate data and a deeper insight into how students are using their smartphones and how aware they are of the dangers of nomophobia. [For the complete proceedings, see ED579190.]

As Provided

13

2018

ED579211