Cyberloafing behaviors among university students: Their relationships with positive and negative affect

Abstract

With the technological advances, the use of digital devices, such as laptops, tablets, or smartphones in the educational setting has become prevalent among young people. Accordingly, there has been an increased concern among scholars on students’ in-class Internet use for personal purposes; namely, ‘cyberloafing’. Considerable research has demonstrated the adverse effects of in-class Internet use on students’ learning environment and academic performance. The present study particularly investigates the relationship between cyberloafing behaviors and positive and negative affect among university students. It examines five different online activities including sharing, shopping, real-time updating, accessing online content, and gaming/gambling separately to gain greater insight into students’ cyberloafing behaviors. The sample consisted of 267 undergraduate students who filled out questionnaires measuring cyberloafing behaviors, positive and negative affect, and demographical information including the use of the Internet and mobile technologies. The initial analyses showed that male students had higher scores in shopping, accessing online content, and gaming/gambling than females. The latent variable analysis revealed that among different activities of cyberloafing, accessing online content and gaming/gambling were positively correlated with positive affect, while sharing was positively associated with negative affect among students. The findings emphasize the importance of evaluating cyberloafing as a part of students’ psychological well-being rather than a variable merely related to academic achievement. The findings of the study also enlighten researchers and educators in developing appropriate policies and interventions to manage misuse of the Internet in class.

Effect of smartphone location on pharmacy students’ attention and working memory

“…Smartphones located in the bag and outside the room influenced students' concentration on the task, but this effect did not seem to affect WM. Thus, this study partially supported the findings of Hartmann et al, who showed no evidence of cognitive costs due to smartphone presence in a short-term memory task [9]. Herein, we observed partial correlations among the EEG parameters examined under different smartphone location conditions.…”

“…Despite smartphone-related convenience, smartphone use has raised concerns regarding addiction among university undergraduates. Some studies have suggested a positive effect of smartphone use on learning [8,9]. However, other studies have shown a decrease in academic performance associated with smartphone use [10][11][12].…”

Exploring the relationship between Secondary School Students’ Smartphone Addiction, Cognitive Absorption, and Cyber loafing activities

“…The present study investigated the secondary school students' cyberloafing behaviours, cognitive absorption, and smartphone addiction levels with considering both the relationship between them and different variables. Although, gender is considered one of the predictors of cyberloafing (Sarıtepeci, 2020;Dursun, Dönmez, & Akbulut, 2018) and males exhibit more cyberloafing behaviour than females (Metin-Orta & Demirtepe-Saygılı, 2021;Sarıtepeci, 2020;Dursun, Dönmez, & Akbulut, 2018;Baturay Toker, 2015;Askew et al, 2014;Garrett & Danziger, 2008), in this study gender is not a significant factor. In the literature, similar findings exist regarding gender effect on cyberloafing behaviour among different student groups; vocational high school students (Gezgin, Arslantaş & Şumuer, 2017), and graduate students (Bağrıaçık Yılmaz, 2017).…”

Investigating Cyberloafing and Academic Burnout in University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The literature review did not reveal any studies examining the direct correlation between cyberloafing behaviors and academic burnout; however, there are some studies that might imply indirect correlations among these variables, which might support the findings of the present study. For instance, there are studies conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic and highlighting that cyberloafing affects academic performances of university students [42,43].…”