Investigating the relationship between nomophobia prevalence and cyber loitering behaviors in university students

The main purpose of this study is to reveal the effect of nomophobia prevalence on cyberloafing behaviors of university students. Also, to examine the relationship between nomophobia and cyberloafing concepts. The population of the study consists of undergraduate and associate degree students who continue their education at Elazığ Fırat University. The sample consists of 406 participants representing the population. After the 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquake, it was decided to conduct the education remotely and the research data was conducted with Google survey application. These analyses were conducted through the licensed SPSS 22.0 package program. Descriptive statistics, validity (factor) and reliability (cronbach alpha) analyses, and finally regression analysis and correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. Communication technologies expand every aspect of our lives by affecting our social structures, personal behaviors and cultural products. The increasing use of the Internet not only facilitates working life in many areas, but also reveals new sharing areas of social life towards individualization. Since employees use the Internet for personal purposes during working hours and students use it for personal purposes during class hours, the concept of cyberloafing has started to attract a lot of attention. Cyberloafing, defined as the use of the Internet for personal purposes in the workplace, is a serious concern for organizations as it can hinder the achievement of organizational goals. Significant research has shown the negative effects of classroom Internet use on students' learning environments and academic performance. The concept of nomophobia, which is expressed as the fear of missing developments in the absence of a cell phone, is becoming more evident with the widespread use of technology. Based on all these, it was determined in the study that nomophobic fears and cyberloafing behaviors of university students were at a moderate level. The relationship between nomophobia and cyberloafing variables was found to be positive. In addition, in the study, it was determined that the nomophobia levels of university students had a significant positive effect on their cyberloafing levels.