Prevalence and predictors of problematic smart phone use among pre-varsity young people in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

Introduction smart phone possession and use among young people is on the increase in Africa and phone addiction has been shown to be similar to substance use dependence. However, there is barely any literature focused on the effect of smart phone use on young people in Nigeria. This study looked at the prevalence of problematic smart phone use and associated factors among pre-varsity young people in Ibadan. Methods problematic smart phone use was assessed using the 27-item mobile phone problem use scale and scored on a 5-point Likert scale. Scores 27-76 indicated low-moderate degree and scores ≥ 77 indicated moderate-severe degree of problematic smart phone use. Chi square test was used to compare problematic phone use with some selected respondents' characteristics and p was 0.05. Results five hundred and seventy five participants were recruited, age range 14-24 years and 46.0% were males. Almost all (96.7%) of the respondents had smart phone access and 46.5% had moderate-severe problematic phone use. Young people who were males, had their parents paying for the data they use, had high extroversion, low conscientiousness and low intellect scores were likely to have problematic phone use. The identified predictors for problematic phone use were male gender (OR=1.77, 95% CI: 1.26-2.50), high extroversion (OR=1.68, 95% CI: 1.16-2.43) and low conscientiousness (OR=2.09, 95% CI: 1.41-3.09). Conclusion there was a high rate of problematic phone use among these young people. Interventions to promote responsible smart phone use is required to counter this problem.

Machine-Learning Predictive Models For Dependency On Smartphones Based On Risk Factors

“…In relation to the type of internet access, a signi cant difference was found between those who do access the internet by paying for data packages (p=0.000). Similar results were found by Balogun and Olatunde [46], who studied the problems of smartphone use among the young population; they found that the data used for the phones are mainly nanced by the parents. These phones are used to surf the internet, make calls, and send text messages.…”

“…Alternatively, Balogun and Olatunde [46] studied the problems of smartphone use in a population of 1230 young people and young adults, with the distribution of socioeconomic classes in a (27.8%) Class I, (58.2%) Class II, (12.4%) Class III and (1.6%) Class IV. Access to the phone and phone use by the respondents showed a prevalence of 96.7% with positive activation of smartphone functions.…”

Smartphone addiction avoidance via inherent ethical mechanisms and influence on academic performance

“…Although smartphone penetrations across the world, including in developing nations, are hailed because of several affordances (GSMA-GSM Association, 2008;National Bureau of Statistics, 2018;NCC, 2019), conventional media technologically tilted programs and content production practices (Sambe & Nyam, 2018) as well as mobile telecommunication convergences (Nyam & Olubodede, 2020;Nyam & Oyewole, 2020), and news aggregations (Nyam & Sambe, 2021;Nyam & Uwujiougu, 2021), there are equally some compelling issues. One of such contentions about the spread and use of smartphones is that they can harm academic performance (Balogun & Olatunde, 2020). Indeed, research investigating the role of smartphones for academic enhancement is scarce, let alone the use of smartphones' inherent mechanisms for improved user control and addiction avoidance toward enhanced academic performances.…”

“…Media technologies are already applauded, but there are social, behavioral and psychological issues such as addiction that are connected to its gratifications (Damiao & Cavaliere, 2021). Smartphone addiction is indeed already well documented (Balogun & Olatunde, 2020;Damiao & Cavaliere, 2021;Sharma et. al., 2021).…”

“…The fact every addiction is a form of mental imbalance with grievous impacts on quality of life (Szerman et al, 2019;Yuchang et al, 2017) implies the issue of smart addiction needs to be given prompt attention by all concerned. Balogun and Olatunde (2020) considered smartphone addiction a grave issue requiring urgent attention. The menace of smartphone addiction is rightly compared and ranked in the category of substance abuse (Sharma et al, 2021).…”