Technological Addiction in Context: The Influence of Perceived Neighborhood Social Disorder on the Extensive Use and Addiction to the Smartphone

Abstract

After more than a decade of research on smartphone addiction, there is currently empirical evidence on the main sociodemographic, psychological, and psychosocial correlates of this type of behavioral addiction. However, research in this field has not yet paid sufficient attention to the influence that the social context may have on smartphone addiction, an aspect that has been frequently pointed out by investigations on both substance and behavioral addictions. The objective of this research was to analyze the influence of the social context—through the perceived social disorder in the neighborhood—on the extensive use and addiction to the smartphone in a representative national sample of 3,619 Spanish users. The results of the multiple linear regression analyses showed that, after statistically controlling for a set of sociodemographic, psychological, and psychosocial correlates, a specific contextual effect was detected: Higher levels of perceived neighborhood social disorder were associated with higher levels of both smartphone extensive use and smartphone addiction. These results highlight the need to incorporate the influence of the social context as a relevant explanatory element of smartphone extensive use and addiction.

Examining the Empirical Links Between Digital Social Pressure, Personality, Psychological Distress, Social Support, Users’ Residential Living Conditions, and Smartphone Addiction

“…Studies in social ecology have documented the effect of neighborhood social disorder on behavioral addictions, and recent empirical evidence indicates that living in socially disordered neighborhoods is associated with higher levels of smartphone addiction (see Herrero, Torres, et al, 2019b, for an analysis). These socially disordered neighborhoods can generate stressful situations that residents may want to avoid by becoming isolated from community life.…”

“…At this point, an overuse and even a technological dependence of the smartphone could be observed. The constant need for digital social inclusion of the smartphone users of these disadvantaged environments could be associated with high SDP, which can potentially lead to smartphone addiction (Herrero, Torres, et al, 2019b). A positive relationship will therefore be expected between neighborhood social disorder and SDP.…”

Smartphone Addiction, Social Support, and Cybercrime Victimization: A Discrete Survival and Growth Mixture Model

“…Victimización por ciberdelincuencia Modelos de mixtura de crecimiento latente Adicción a los teléfonos inteligentes Apoyo social Curvas de supervivencia Studies on smartphone addiction have recently identified some psychosocial vulnerabilities in addicted users that might be related to a higher propensity to be victimized by cybercrime. Longitudinal (Herrero, Torres, Vivas, & Urueña, 2019a;Herrero, Urueña, et al, 2019b;Lapierre & Zhao, 2021) and correlational research findings (Al-Kandari, & Al-Sejari, 2020;Ranney & Troop-Gordon, 2020) have suggested that smartphone-addicted users may have problems with social relationships in their daily lives (e.g., poor social support) compared to non-addicted users. While both smartphone addiction and social support have been linked primarily to subjective well-being and health, their relationship to cybercrime victimization has also been found in different studies (Judges, et al, 2018;Martínez-Ferrer et al, 2021;Mollenhorst, et al, 2018;Oksanen, & Keipi, 2013;Xing, et al, 2020).…”

Perceived Social Mobility and Smartphone Dependence in University Students: The Roles of Hope and Family Socioeconomic Status

“…[8][9][10][11][12][13] Although it is widely acknowledged that social environment serves as both a risk and protective factor for the initiation, treatment, and prevention of addictive behaviors, 14 there remains insufficient attention to the social factors associated with smartphone dependence. 15 Currently, research mainly revolves around risk indicators, such as neighborhood social disorder, social digital pressures, and various life stress. [15][16][17][18] How university students perceive the social environment they live in (eg, social mobility) has been found to play a crucial role in shaping behaviors.…”

“…15 Currently, research mainly revolves around risk indicators, such as neighborhood social disorder, social digital pressures, and various life stress. [15][16][17][18] How university students perceive the social environment they live in (eg, social mobility) has been found to play a crucial role in shaping behaviors. 19,20 When individuals perceive high rather than low social mobility, they tend to have stronger selfmotivation ability and participate in more adaptive behaviors conducive to the future.…”