Palak Khatri, Chaitri Desai and Supriya Sioni
St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Ahmedabad
Pages: 319-324
Recent research indicates that the prevalence of smartphone usage has evolved into a
form of addiction, especially in the younger generation. Numerous recent studies discuss
the impacts of smartphone addiction on students, whereas this study examines how
environmental factors contribute to smartphone addiction. This study aimed to compare
and analyze how educational institutions and living arrangements influence smartphone
addiction. This study encompassed 280 students, initially divided into two equal groups
of 140 each based on their educational institutions (high school and college).
Subsequently, these groups were evenly distributed into two subgroups of 70 students
each, categorized by their living arrangements—either at home or in a hostel/PG. The
results of the t-test analysis revealed that, on the whole, there was no significant
difference among school students based on their living arrangements. It’s worth
mentioning that students living in hostels and PG accommodations exhibited greater
psychological symptoms of smartphone addiction compared to their counterparts
residing at home, who did not show the same level of symptoms. Notably, there was no
significant difference in the living arrangements of college students. This suggests that
the living conditions in hostels substantially impact students’ psychological well-being,
potentially leading to heightened smartphone usage. While a hostel setting may impact
the psychological symptoms of smartphone addiction, further examination of additional
influencing confounding factors is necessary for a comprehensive understanding