Examination of the relationship between phone usage and smartphone addiction based on certain variables

Abstract Purpose: The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between technology usage and Smartphone addiction according to certain variables. Method: In this study, which was conducted with the purpose of determining the opinions of preservice teachers, a scanning model was employed. The sample of the study consists of 714 preservice teachers who studied at the Atatürk Education Faculty of Near East University, who were selected based on a random sampling method. In the study, a demographic information form prepared by the researchers was used in order to obtain the required data. The preservice teachers who participated in the study voluntarily were asked to provide information on their demographic features such as age and gender, period of using social networking sites, daily usage habits of smartphones, daily average time spent on social networking sites, average time spent using technological devices and their reasons for using smartphones. The Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Form adapted to the Turkish language by Noyan, Darcin, Nurmedov, Yılmaz and Dilbaz, (2015) and the Opinion Scale for Technological Device Usage developed by Arnavut and Bicen, (2013) were both used. Findings: The conducted multiple regression analysis showed that the role of technology in life, communication and the usage of social media were significant predictor of smartphone addiction (F(3.709) = 282.065, p < .001). According to the obtained results, it was seen that the total variance explained 54% (R =.74, R 2 =.54, p < .001).A significant difference was observed in the communication dimension according to the age variable of the research (p = .02), whereas no significant difference was found between smartphone addiction, social media usage and the role of technology in life (p < .05). Tukey test analysis showed that the communication score increased with age. Conclusion: According to the obtained conclusions, it was found out that males predominantly use smartphones for communication purposes. No significant difference was found in terms of smartphone addiction. A high and significant relationship was found in a positive direction between smartphone addiction and social media usage. Additionally, a medium and significant relationship in a positive direction was found between smartphone addiction and the role of technology in life.