The relationship between smartphone addiction and fear of missing out: phubbing as the mediator in students at a university’s faculties

Year 2024, Volume: 5 Issue: 1, 12 - 20, 30.01.2024

Edibe Pirinçci , Fatma Nur Karaçorlu , Mehmet Onur Kaya

https://doi.org/10.47482/acmr.1382922

Abstract

Background: Smartphone addiction is a public health problem. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between smartphone addiction with fear of missing out and phubbing.
Methods: The universe of this cross-sectional study consisted of all students studying at Fırat University Faculties. 582 students were reached. A questionnaire was used as data collection tools. The questionnaire consists of demographic information form, questions about smartphone use, Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version, Fear of Missing Out Scale, and Phubbing Scale. SPSS PROCESS macro version 3.5 (Model 4) was used to test the mediation effect.
Results: 51.5% of the students were women and the mean age of all students was 22.06 ± 2.99. Smartphone addiction score was higher in women (p < 0.05). A significant negative correlation was found between smartphone addiction and age (r = -0.10). A significant positive correlation was found between smartphone addiction and daily smartphone usage frequency (r = 0.31) and daily smartphone usage duration (r = 0.44). Fear of missing out and phubbing were significant positive predictors of smartphone addiction. Phubbing had a mediating effect on the effect of fear of missing out on smartphone addiction.
Conclusion: Phubbing as a mediator increases the impact of fear of missing out on smartphone addiction.

Keywords

Smartphone, addiction, phubbing, fear of missing out, university student

References

• Statista. Number of smartphone mobile network subscriptions worldwide from 2016 to 2022, with forecasts from 2023 to 2028. Available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/330695/numberof- smartphone-users-worldwide/ Accessed October 29, 2023
• Statista. Forecast of the smartphone user penetration rate in Turkey from 2018 to 2024. Available at https://www.statista.com/ statistics/568281/predicted-smartphone-user-penetration-rate-inturkey/ Accessed October 29, 2023
• Cheever NA, Rosen LD, Carrier LM, Chavez A. Out of sight is not out of mind: the impact of restricting wireless mobile device use on anxiety levels among low, moderate and high users. Comput Human Behav. 2014;37:290-7.
• Statista. Time spent on smartphone everyday worldwide in 2017. Available at https://www.statista.com/statistics/781692/worldwidedaily- time-spent-on-smartphone/ Accessed October 29, 2023
• Demirci K, Akgönül M, Akpinar A. Relationship of smartphone use severity with sleep quality, depression, and anxiety in university students. J Behav Addict. 2015;4(2):85-92.
• Van Velthoven MH, Powell J, Powell G. Problematic smartphone use: digital approaches to an emerging public health problem. Digit Health. 2018;4:205520761875916.
• Kwon M, Kim D-J, Cho H, Yang S. The Smartphone Addiction Scale: development and validation of a short version for adolescents. PLOS ONE. 2014;8(12):e83558.
• Przybylski AK, Murayama K, DeHaan CR, Gladwell V. Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out. Comput Hum Behav. 2013;29(4):1841-8.
• Elhai JD, Levine JC, Dvorak RD, Hall BJ. Fear of missing out, need for touch, anxiety and depression are related to problematic smartphone use. Comput Hum Behav. 2016;63:509-16.
• Dean B. Social network usage & growth statistics: how many people use social media in 2023? What’s the percentage of social media usage on mobile vs. Desktop? Available at https://backlinko.com/socialmedia- users Accessed October 29, 2023
• Gezgin D, Hamutoglu N, Gemikonakli O, Raman I. Social networks users: Fear of missing out in preservice teachers. J Educ Pract. 2017;18:156-68
• Karadag E, Tosuntas SB, Erzen E, Duru P, Bostan N, Sahin BM, et al. Determinants of phubbing, which is the sum of many virtual addictions: a structural equation model. J Behav Addict. 2015;4(2):60-74.
• Guazzini A, Duradoni M, Capelli A, Meringolo P. An explorative model to assess individuals’ phubbing risk. Future Internet. 2019;11(1):21.
• Butt AK, Arshad T. The relationship between basic psychological needs and phubbing: Fear of missing out as the mediator. PsyCh journal. 2021;10(6):916-25.
• Tandon A, Dhir A, Talwar S, Kaur P, Mäntymäki M. Social media induced fear of missing out (FoMO) and phubbing: behavioural, relational and psychological outcomes. Technol Forecast Soc Change. 2022;174:121149.
• Paul J. “I can’t look at you while talking!” – fear of missing out and smartphone addiction as predictors of consumer’s phubbing behavior. J Res Interact Mark. 2023.
• Chotpitayasunondh V, Douglas KM. How “phubbing” becomes the norm: the antecedents and consequences of snubbing via smartphone. Comput Hum Behav. 2016;63:9-18.
• Safdar Bajwa R, Abdullah H, Zaremohzzabieh Z, Wan Jaafar WM, Abu Samah A. Smartphone addiction and phubbing behavior among university students: a moderated mediation model by fear of missing out, social comparison, and loneliness. Front Psychol. 2022;13:1072551.
• Talan T, Doğan Y, Kalinkara Y. Effects of Smartphone addiction, social media addiction and fear of missing out on university students’ phubbing: a structural equation model. Deviant Behav. 2023:1-14.
• Noyan CO, Enez Darçın A, Nurmedov S, Yilmaz O, Dilbaz N. Akıllı Telefon Bağımlılığı Ölçeğinin kısa formunun üniversite öğrencilerinde Türkçe geçerlilik ve güvenilirlik çalışması. Anadolu Psikiyatri Derg. 2015;16:73-81.
• Gökler ME, Aydin R, Ünal E, Metintaş S. Sosyal ortamlarda gelişmeleri kaçırma korkusu ölçeğinin Türkçe sürümünün geçerlilik ve güvenilirliğinin değerlendirilmesi. Anadolu Psikiyatri Derg. 2016;17:53-9.
• Hayes AF. Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis. New York: Guilford Press; 2013.
• Konan N, Durmuş, E, Türkoğlu, D, Ağıroğlu, Bakır, A. How is smartphone addiction related to interaction anxiety of prospective teachers? Educ Sci. 2018;8:186.
• Elhai JD, Tiamiyu M, Weeks J. Depression and social anxiety in relation to problematic smartphone use. Internet Res. 2018;28(2):315-32.
• Tateno M, Kim DJ, Teo AR, Skokauskas N, Guerrero APS, Kato TA. Smartphone addiction in Japanese college students: usefulness of the Japanese version of the Smartphone Addiction Scale as a screening tool for a new form of internet addiction. Psychiatry Investig. 2019;16(2):115-20.
• Akturk U, Budak F, Gultekin A, Ozdemir A. Comparison of smartphone addiction and loneliness in high school and university students. Perspect Psychiatr Care. 2018;54(4):564-70.
• Sahin S, Ozdemir K, Unsal A, Temiz N. Evaluation of mobile phone addiction level and sleep quality in university students. Pak J Med Sci. 2013;29(4):913-8.
• Elhai JD, Levine JC, O’Brien KD, Armour C. Distress tolerance and mindfulness mediate relations between depression and anxiety sensitivity with problematic smartphone use. Comput Hum Behav. 2018;84:477-84.
• Elhai JD, Rozgonjuk D, Yildirim C, Alghraibeh AM, Alafnan AA. Worry and anger are associated with latent classes of problematic smartphone use severity among college students. J Affect Disord. 2019;246:209-16.
• Lee EB. Too much information: heavy smartphone and facebook utilization by African American young adults. J Black Stud. 2014;46(1):44-61.
• Tras Z, Oztemel K. Examining the relationships between facebook intensity, fear of missing out, and smartphone addiction. Addicta. 2019;6:91-113.
• Wang H-Y, Sigerson L, Cheng C. Digital nativity and information technology addiction: age cohort versus individual difference approaches. Comput Hum Behav. 2019;90:1-9.
• Cocoradă E, Maican CI, Cazan A-M, Maican MA. Assessing the smartphone addiction risk and its associations with personality traits among adolescents. Child Youth Serv Rev. 2018;93:345-54.
• Fuster H, Chamarro A, Oberst U. Fear of missing out, online social networking and mobile phone addiction: a latent profile approach. Aloma. 2017;35(1):23-30.
• Wolniewicz CA, Tiamiyu MF, Weeks JW, Elhai JD. Problematic smartphone use and relations with negative affect, fear of missing out, and fear of negative and positive evaluation. Psychiatry Res. 2018;262:618-23.
• Balta S, Emirtekin E, Kircaburun K, Griffiths MD. Neuroticism, trait fear of missing out, and phubbing: the mediating role of state fear of missing out and problematic instagram use. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2018;18:628-39.
• Blanca MJ, Bendayan R. Spanish version of the Phubbing Scale: internet addiction, facebook intrusion, and fear of missing out as correlates. Psicothema. 2018;30(4):449-54.
• Fang J, Wang X, Wen Z, Zhou J. Fear of missing out and problematic social media use as mediators between emotional support from social media and phubbing behavior. Addict Behav. 2020;107:106430.
• Franchina V, Vanden Abeele M, van Rooij AJ, Lo Coco G, De Marez L. Fear of missing out as a predictor of problematic social media use and phubbing behavior among Flemish adolescents. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2018;15(10):2319.
• Schneider FM, Hitzfeld S. I ought to put down that phone but ı phub nevertheless: examining the predictors of phubbing behavior. Soc Sci Comput Rev. 2021;39(6):1075-88.
• Li Y-X, Zhang Y-H, Yang R, Lian S-L, Yan L, Zhu X-M. Relationship between perceived social norms and phubbing: individual control and fear of missing out as mediators. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2021.
• Aagaard J. Digital akrasia: a qualitative study of phubbing. AI Soc. 2020;35(1):237-44.
• Wu-Ouyang B. Are smartphones addictive? Examining the cognitivebehavior model of motivation, leisure boredom, extended self, and fear of missing out on possible smartphone addiction. Telemat Inform. 2022;71:101834.