Determination of the level of smartphone addiction in Erzincan University students and evaluation of related factors

The use of smartphones is increasing day by day in our country and in the world, smartphones are entering every area of life and creating addiction on people. They continue to work to make this diagnosis of dependence and to treat people. This research was carried out in Erzincan University in order to determine the level of smartphone addiction and the related factors in the students who continue their education in 2017-2018 academic year. 741 students who continued their education during the 2017-2018 academic year were included in the study. In the study, the information form questioning the sociodemographic characteristics of the students and The Smart Phone Addiction Scale - Short Form developed by Kwon M et al. was used. The data obtained in our study were analyzed using the SPSS for Windows 22.0 Program. Chi square test was used when the differences between the groups were examined in qualitative data. The results are interpreted as meaningful level; p <0.05 was taken. In our study, 37.3% (n: 266) of the students were identified as smartphone addicts. In our study, a significant relationship between smart phone addiction with age, leisure time activity, where is the use of internet more often, the existence of social media affiliation, the age of having the first mobile phone, the frequency of cell phone replacement, spending money for phone monthly, the most common purpose of mobile phone using, telephone using during class, affected life by smart phone and seeing themselves as a smartphone addict was found. In this study, smartphone addiction was seen as a threat to university students. In the battle against smartphone addiction, public health workers, other health professionals, students, lecturers, internet organizations and non-governmental organizations have important duties.