Are young adults addicted to smartphones? A comparison of technology use

The trends on growing prevalence of technology use are well documented. The proportion of young adults who own a smartphone between the ages of 18 and 34, has been estimated to equal 100% in South Korea, 92% in the U.S and 91% in China (Pew Research Center, 2018). As this rising trend will not be reversed, there is growing evidence of risks associated with an excessive amount of time spent on smartphones (Walsh et al, 2008; Lepp et al, 2014, Davenport et al,2014; Salehan Nehahban, 2013). This study seeks to understand the attributes of college and university students whose excessive use of smartphones leads to problematic outcomes. We design a unique survey of university and college students (N=830) from South Korea (SUNY Korea) and the United States to compare risk factors among Asian and non-Asian users. Using factor analysis, we construct four main factors that may be related to smartphone addiction (disturbance of adaptive functions, virtual life orientation, withdrawal, and tolerance). To measure intensity of use we employ the Korean Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale for Youth (2014), which is an innovative tool that combines cellular phone addiction scales and internet addiction scales. Using linear regression models we predict the four addiction attributes against student attributes. Using logistic regression analysis, we assess the probability of having an overall higher tendency toward addiction. We find that Asian and female college and university students have a higher risk of experiencing problematic smartphone use. They are more likely to experience a disturbance in adaptive behavior, emotional withdrawal symptoms and tolerance. Further, Asians are also more likely to experience virtual life orientation. Policies aimed at reducing these unintended consequences would benefit from this work. Policies aimed at reducing these unintended consequences would benefit from this work.