The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of self-control on smartphone addiction of middle school students. We evaluated 378 students of second and third-year from three middle schools located in Jeju region. The collected data was statist...
The purpose of this study is to identify the effects of self-control on smartphone addiction of middle school students. We evaluated 378 students of second and third-year from three middle schools located in Jeju region. The collected data was statistically analyzed with SPSS 18.0 and the following are the results.
analysis on the frequency in using smartphones was conducted in order to find out the current trend in its usage. t-test was conducted to compare the difference of self-control and smartphone addition based on the gender of middle school students. the study was conducted to identify the correlation between one’s self-control and smartphone addiction. in order to find out how the self-control of different gender can effect on smartphone addictions, multiple regression study was conducted.
The result of this study follows;
First, the most common duration of smartphone use was found to be ‘over one year and up to two years’. The ‘influence of friends in possession of smartphones’ was revealed to be the strongest motivation in purchasing smartphones and ‘wanting to talk to close friends at any time’ came in as the second motivation. On average, the daily time spent on smartphones was found to be below 30 minutes for voice calls, and below 20 times for text messages. The most common person at the other end of the line when talking on the phone revealed to be ‘a friend of the same gender’. The average monthly charge for the smartphone usage ranged from over 30,000 won to below 40,000won, and the bills were mostly paid by the parents of these middle school smartphone users. When using a smartphone, ‘sending text messages and chatting’ was found to be the most commonly used function followed by ‘using a search engine’, and ‘listening to MP3s’. When identifying the pros and cons in using smartphones, ‘the ability to reach someone regardless of where you are’ was found to be the most significant advantage and disadvantage was ‘becoming an obstruction in academic achievements’.
Secondary analysis to identify the common tendency of smartphone addiction on middle school students revealed that 1.6% of the participants were considered to be in high risk group.
Thirdly, the result showed that male students have stronger tendency in both elements.
Forth, In this study, it was found that among the sub-elements of the self-control, stronger tendency in long-term satisfaction lead to lower risks in smartphone addiction while stronger tendency in instant satisfaction lead to higher risks in smartphone addiction.
Fifth, the study revealed that male students are more likely to become addicted to smartphones compared to their female counterparts. Also, stronger tendency in long-term satisfaction was found to have lower risks in smartphone addiction while stronger tendency in instant satisfaction lead to higher risks in smartphone addiction. This means that gender and self-control can effect on the smartphone addiction tendencies.
In conclusion, the study found that adolescents with lower self-control have stronger tendency towards smartphone addiction. This indicates that adolescents who has higher tendency to seek for instant satisfaction rather than delaying one’s need for greater pleasure in the future, are easier to become addicted to smartphones. As there is rapid growth in the use of internet based smartphones, identifying the problem that can induce smartphone addictions and devising plans to handle or even to prevent such problem should be considered to be our top priority.