شبكة المعلومات العربية التربوية

This empirical study investigates the prevalence and symptoms of Nomophobia among university students in Saudi Arabia. An anonymous and self-reported survey was distributed from Feb 2015 to June 2015. Out of around 1800 potential candidates, 335 undergraduate students comprised the study sample. Scores were calculated to assess demographic data and patterns of Smartphone use in terms of duration, frequency, context and purpose. Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS) was used to assess the psychological status of the participants, and Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) was used to assess the prevalence of Nomophobia dimensions. Statistical analysis and tests were used to identify associations among the study variables and to test the hypotheses. The findings showed that there was a high level of mobile phone involvement, high levels of the Nomophobia dimensions; females were significantly more involved than males with a mean of 3.3 (SD = 0.93) versus 2.8 (SD = 1.05) with a (t = 3.54, p-value < 0.001). The findings also showed a “Mild” level of depression with average score was 8.55 (Z = 0.83) (SD = 3.41, ranging from 1 to 17), a “Normal” level of anxiety with average score was 5.96 (Z = -0.03) (SD = 2.9, ranging from 0 to 12), and a “Normal” level of stress with average score was 6.55 (Z = -1.90) (SD = 4.8, ranging from 0 to 18). Based on the findings, it can be concluded that the duration of use was significant with both mobile phone involvement and psychological health factors. The psychological Health factors using DASS are all correlated significantly with Mobile phone involvement factors. The findings suggest that the way a person interacts with their Smart-device, mainly duration of use, can predict the pathological fear and psychological symptoms caused by modern digital and virtual means. (Published abstract)