The relationship between loneliness, fear of missing out (FoMO) and smartphone addiction with phubbing in university students

In this study, the relationship between loneliness, fear of missing out (FoMO), smartphone addiction and phubbing behavior was examined in university students. The socio-demographic variables of the participants and their tendency for phubbing were evaluated; the purpose of using their smartphones and social media application preferences were discussed according to the mean scores of the scales. Pearson correlation analysis, independent groups t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and hierarchical regression analyses were used to analyze the data. The sample of the study consisted of 334 participants who were undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students aged between 18 and 29. Personal Information Form, UCLA Loneliness Scale - Short Form (ULS-8), Fear of Missing Out Scale (FoMOs), Smartphone Addiction Scale - Short Form (SAS-SF) and Generic Scale of Phubbing (GSP) were used as data collection tools in the study. When the phubbing tendencies of the participants were evaluated, it was found that the phubbing scores of women were significantly higher than the phubbing scores of men and those who studied at private universities were significantly higher than those who studied at public universities. It was observed that the mean phubbing scores of the participants who used their smartphones for playing games and preferred Messenger, Tiktok and Facebook applications among social media platforms were higher. A significant and positive relationship was found between phubbing and loneliness, fear of missing out and smartphone addiction. Smartphone addiction and phubbing were the variables with the highest degree of association. It was concluded that studying at a private university, loneliness, fear of missing out, and smartphone addiction significantly predicted phubbing behavior and explained 65% of the variance in phubbing behavior. Suggestions were made to focus on preventive, informative and awareness-raising studies on phubbing.