A Study of Smartphone Addiction among Adolescents in Mongolia

Abstract

Although high technology has created many new advancements and services through the population, besides the dark side has appeared in society. The dark side of modern IT technology is having an impact on daily life of youth in several ways including, personal information security problem, overuse, cyber bullying and etc. Adolescents use a smartphone to communicate with their family and friends, to provide their security as well as to obtain a new information and qualitative education however at the same time they are addicted to a smartphone. This study aims to determine factors that influence smartphone addiction the most among the Mongolian adolescents using the regression analysis method. Previous studies show numerous influencing factors based on socioeconomic, psychological and personal characteristics, however this study has the differentiation that is focused on social factors in Mongolian society. The smartphone addiction is possible to be measured by Smartphone Addiction Scale in the research area. The participants, who are aged 13-17, own a smartphone at least two months use. In order to examine and understand the overuse of a smartphone, this study investigates influencing factors that are adolescents base on empirical data gathered from a personal interview survey. In Mongolia, the survey was conducted in 21 randomly chosen general educational schools and focused on the students of middle school and high school classes in the year 2016. The thesis was conducted by the empirical study, which included 383 participants, and was analyzed by Ordinary Least-Squares Regression Method. The study was examined by the link between family, school, the use of a smartphone, the awareness of smartphone addiction and compulsive behaviors. The study result suggest that the smartphone addiction is an epidemic problem among Mongolian children especially in the Capital City. By understanding these influencing factors, Mongolian Government Agencies and policy-makers could make a decision and implement planning against to smartphone and internet addiction among adolescents. Lastly, this study gives a rational explanation and suggests policy guidelines on the problem of smartphone addiction for three levels.

Keywords: Use of smartphone addiction, Internet addiction, Adolescents, Teenager, Mongolian Society, usage of smartphone, IT policy of addiction