Nomophobia in university students: the role of digital addiction, Social connectedness and life satisfaction

The aim of this study is to investigate nomophobia levels of university students in terms of gender, duration of having a smartphone, average daily screen time and number of controls, sub-dimensions of digital addiction, social connectedness and life satisfaction variables. The study was carried out in relational scanning model. The study group of the research consisted of 451 undergraduate students (302 women, 149 men) who continue their education in state universities in Ankara in the spring semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. The study group was determined by random sampling. Nomophobia Scale, Digital Addiction Scale, Revised Social Connectedness Scale, Satisfaction With Life Scale, and Personal Information Form were used to collect data in the study. Independent samples t-test, one-way analysis of variance and multiple linear regression analysis were used to analyze the data. SPSS 22 program was used in the statistical analysis of the data. Results showed that while social media addiction, the sub-dimension of digital addiction, significantly and positively predicted the nomophobia levels of university students, other sub-dimensions of digital addiction, social connectedness and life satisfaction did not predict the nomophobia levels of students. It has been determined that the nomophobia levels of university students differ significantly based on gender, average daily screen time and the number of controls. The findings of the present study were discussed in the light of the literature. Recommendations for researchers, psychological counselors and policy makers were presented. Keywords: nomophobia, digital addiction, social connectedness, life satisfaction, university students