Relationships between smartphone addiction, academic performance, life satisfaction, hopelessness and cyberloafing among university undergraduate students

Abstract

The ubiquitous nature of smartphones has led to the emergence of addictive behaviors and new psychosocial disorders, almost overtaking the merits they provide. Within the relevant literature, the misuse of smartphones is purported to turn into a strong addiction, thus culminating in hopelessness and a reduction in life satisfaction. Another widespread behavioral disorder related to the misuse of smartphones is cyberloafing, which is reported to cause labor loss at the workplace and undesired consequences in learning settings. While research on the effects of inappropriate use of social media and mobile devices is ever-evolving, with a plethora of studies published every year, the need for more studies on the correlations of negative consequences related to the misuse of smartphones is still warranted. To this end, the present research attempted to identify undergraduate students' levels of smartphone addiction, life satisfaction, hopelessness, cyberloafing, and academic achievement. The study further aimed to scrutinize the correlations between these variables with structural equation modeling. The sample of this casual-correlational study consists of 261 students receiving education at a state university in the southeastern part of Turkey. The results of the study suggest that higher cyberloafing leads to higher hopelessness but not to lower life satisfaction, and higher hopelessness leads to lower life satisfaction. While higher smartphone addiction leads to lower achievement and higher cyberloafing, it does not lead to higher hopelessness and lower life satisfaction. The findings of the study provide insights into understanding the behavioral impacts of smartphone addiction.