Smartphone addiction and application usage in Korean adolescents: Effects of mediation strategies

Authors
Keywords:
adolescents, smartphone addiction, application usage, parental mediation, technical restriction, social psychology, social behavior
Abstract

We examined adolescent application usage related to smartphone addiction and also explored mediation strategies used to prevent their addiction. Participants were 3,000 adolescents in grades 7 to 12 who completed an online survey. According to the findings, frequent use of social networking site applications (apps), game apps, and video apps tended to exacerbate adolescents’ addiction to smartphones. Mediation strategies negatively related to smartphone addiction were active parental mediation for young adolescent girls, technical restrictions for young adolescent boys, and limited service plans for both these groups. Parental restriction tended to increase the likelihood of smartphone addiction. Addiction prevention programs being implemented in schools did not have any impact in preventing addiction. Overall, our findings suggest that the effects of mediation strategies are weak and these effects are limited to young adolescents.

Author Biographies
  1. Sook-Jung Lee, Chung-Ang University
    School of Media and Communication
  2. Cheolhan Lee, Dongguk University
    Department of Advertising and Public Relations
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Published
2016-04-15
Section
Articles
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