Undergraduate students’ perception of smartphone addiction and its impact on themselves and their academic performance: a case study

Abstract

The main objective of the present study was to investigate undergraduate students’ perception of smartphone addiction and its impact on themselves and their academic performance in Takhar province. 1321 participants from Takhar University and 4 private universities responded to an online survey questionnaire. The researchers used SPSS Version 26.0 to analyze the data. The findings revealed that undergraduate students were highly addicted to smartphones, and the excessive use of smartphones had an adverse effect on the academic performance of students. The results showed that there were statistically significant differences in smartphone addiction by the respondents’ gender, access to social media and daily hours of smartphone usage. Moreover, a strong negative correlation was found between smartphone addiction and its impact on students’ academic performance. The findings of the study are crucial to higher education leaders because they may help them develop policies to reduce the excessive and inappropriate use of smartphones in classrooms.

Keywords:

• Use of technology
• impact of smartphone addiction
• academic performance
• higher education of Afghanistan

REVIEWING EDITOR:

• Maria Popescu, Strategic Communication, Carol I National Defense University, Romania

SUBJECTS:

• Psychological Science
• General Psychology
• Multidisciplinary Psychology
• Psychology of New Media
• Techniques & Interventions - Psychosocial & Behavioural Issues
• Exercise Psychology
• Psychoanalysis - Performance Tests
• Media Psychology

Disclosure statement of funding

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aminuddin Hashemi

Aminuddin Hashemi is a senior lecturer in the English department of Takhar University, Afghanistan. He earned his Master’s degree in TESL from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Mr. Hashemi has published many research papers and participated in various national and international conferences. He also supervised more than 50 bachelor’s degree monographs in the department of the English language. His research interests are teaching and learning, Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL), Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL), Mobile Assisted Language Learning (MALL), Online Teaching and Learning, Learning Analytics (LA), Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), etc. He is also interested in using various technological tools and applications in EFL classrooms.

Abdul Qawi Noori

Abdul Qawi Noori is a PhD student at Monash University. His areas of research are teaching and learning, data-driven decision-making, school effectiveness, quality assurance and quality management in higher education, and technology in teaching and teaching English as a second language.

Sayeed Naqibullah Orfan

Sayeed Naqibullah Orfan is a PhD student at the University of Toronto. He is an activist and advocate of gender equality in Afghanistan. His areas of research are language attitudes, language, and gender, learning in higher education, outcome-based education, and student-centered learning.

Sayeed Asif Akramy

Sayeed Asif Akramy is currently an English tutor at Warwickshire College in the United Kingdom. He has a master’s degree in TESOL. He has taught English for over ten years in different national and International sectors. His areas of research are language teaching and learning, language attitudes, and student-centeredlearning.

Mohd Rustam Mohd Rameli

Mohd Rustam Mohd Rameli is a senior lecturer at the School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia where his teaching and research focus on positive psychology including well-being, mental health, and motivation