Social networking on smartphones: When mobile phones become addictive
Introduction
Information and communication technologies (ICT) have significantly changed the way we live and have become an inseparable part of our lives. Many people, especially the youth, use these technologies on a daily basis and for various purposes. People use computers to study, to search for information on the internet, to play games, and to communicate with others.
These days, most people have mobile phones and use them on-the-go. Recent statistics from December 2011 show that there are 331.6 million mobile phone subscribers in the United States which indicates a penetration rate of 104% for mobile phones across the country (CTIA, 2011). In 2011, the number of mobile phones worldwide exceeds 5.6 billion, showing an 11% increase compared to its previous year and an average penetration rate of 79.86% worldwide (Gartner, 2011).
Recent advances in hardware and software with the introduction of smartphones has augmented the use of ICT in daily life. In 2011, smartphone vendors experienced a sharp increase in their sales, reaching 472 million units which showed 58% increase in comparison to the previous year (Gartner, 2012). The sales for smartphone also accounted for 31% of all mobile phone sales in 2011 (Gartner, 2012).
Nowadays, people use their mobile phones for a wide variety of tasks ranging from calling and texting to playing games, navigation, and social networking. Online social networking services (SNS) have gained rapid popularity in recent years. Social networking services are now more than mere websites. They provide their users with several ways to connect others including web, email, and mobile applications. Many SNS vendors have introduced mobile applications that can be installed on smartphones for fast and easy access to SNS. Facebook, the most popular SNS, currently has 955 million active users (Mashable, 2012) out of whom more than half connect through mobile devices (SocialBakers, 2012).
Although mobile phones are very popular and bring lots of benefits to their users, various social issues have arisen during their adoption, including: use of mobile phones in banned and dangerous circumstances (Bianchi & Phillips, 2005), complaints about the use of mobile phones in public places, compulsive use, and even addiction (Toda et al., 2008). ICT has the potential to create addiction in individuals. This is supported by the theory of optimal flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990) which posits that for some individuals, the experience with ICT is so enjoyable that they will try to maintain the state even at high costs. Excessive mobile phone use can even be seen as a type of technostress (Brod, 1984). By preventing people from working or studying, addiction can cause harm to both individuals and the society (Park, 2005).
As Internet is becoming and indispensable part of people’s lives, it is also becoming source of severe problems for both individuals and organizations. Addiction to internet, as a technology, is an instance of addiction caused by technology (Griffiths, 1999, Leung, 2004). Internet addiction not only is harming people’s personal lives, it is also making organizations more concerned about their employees’ productivity, network congestion, and corporate data privacy (Chou, Sinha, & Zhao, 2010). This combined with the sharp increase in the penetration rate of mobile devices, which allows anytime-anywhere internet connectivity, along with widespread use of social networking applications on mobile phones, would exacerbate the social and personal problems associated with mobile phones and internet technology.
Although there has been extensive research on technology addiction, mobile phone addiction has received little attention from scholars (Belles, Beranuy, Carbonell, & Guardiola, 2009). This study contributes to filling this gap by investigating the relationship between use of mobile phone for social networking and mobile phone addiction. Drawing on the theory of optimal flow, this study focuses on how the use of social networking mobile applications can affect mobile phone addiction.
This study has three objectives: (1) to propose a research model explaining how the use of social networking mobile applications can be associated with mobile phone addiction, (2) to empirically test the proposed model using data collected from smartphone users, and (3) to give the academia and practitioners deep insight about this effect and its implications. The following parts of this paper are organized as follows: first, we present the theoretical background of the study. Then, we propose our research model and hypotheses. Finally, we discuss the methodology, results and implications of our study.
Section snippets
Technology addiction
Addiction can be explained by oddly high dependence on a particular thing (Park, 2005). Addiction is characterized by repetitive acts with a total negative sum of consequences (Waal & Mørland, 1999). The need for short-term satisfaction in an addict overshadows the long term implications of his/her actions (Waal & Mørland, 1999). While being over-attentive to instant satisfaction, addicts usually have incorrect or distorted image of the future although they have a degree of recognition about
Research model and hypotheses
This study investigates the effect of social networking services and especially using social networking mobile applications on mobile addiction. Drawing on the theory of optimal flow, we propose that excessive use of social networking applications on mobile phone can lead to mobile addiction. Figure 1 shows our research model. Network size is the number of people a person is connected to through his/her social network. In this study we focus on SNS network size rather than overall social
Measurement
We adapted our measurement scales from prior studies and made minor modifications to fit the context of our study. Our survey instrument is shown in Appendix A. For social network intensity, a variation of Ellison et al. (2007) instrument was used. To measure network size, we simply asked respondents to choose the number of their SNS friends from 7 choices (Less than 10, 10–49, 50–99, 100–199, 200–299, 300–399, More than 400). The scale for mobile phone addiction was adapted from Negahban (2012)
Discussion
Building on the body of knowledge regarding mobile addiction, this study investigates the effect of use of mobile social networking applications on mobile addiction. In this section we discuss the key findings of our study followed by the limitations and implications for research and practice.
Conclusion
In this study, we investigate how SNS intensity, network size, and mobile social networking applications can be associated with mobile addiction. The result of our study shows that mobile social networking applications are significant predictor of mobile addiction. The use of these applications can be influenced by the network size and SNS intensity of the user. SNS intensity is also affected by network size which may be a sign of extensive use of SNS for connecting to weak ties. Overall, the
References (59)
- et al.
Problematic Internet and mobile phone use and clinical symptoms in college students: The role of emotional intelligence
Computers in Human Behavior
(2009) - et al.
A theoretical model of intentional social action in online social networks
Decision Support Systems
(2010) - et al.
Commercial Internet filters: Perils and opportunities
Decision Support Systems
(2010) The complex problem of monetizing virtual electronic social networks
Decision Support Systems
(2009)- et al.
Internet addiction: Meta-synthesis of qualitative research for the decade 1996–2006
Computers in Human Behavior
(2008) - et al.
Internet social network communities: Risk taking, trust, and privacy concerns
Computers in Human Behavior
(2009) - et al.
The ties that bind: Social network principles in online communities
Decision Support Systems
(2009) - et al.
Internet and mobile phone text-messaging dependency: Factor structure and correlation with dysphoric mood among Japanese adults
Computers in Human Behavior
(2011) - et al.
Social capital, self-esteem, and use of online social network sites: A longitudinal analysis
Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology
(2008) - et al.
User community discovery from multi-relational networks
Decision Support Systems
(2013)
A bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature on Internet, video games, and cell phone addiction
Journal of the Medical Library Association
Psychological predictors of problem mobile phone use
CyberPsychology & Behavior
Using e-mail for personal relationships the difference gender makes
American Behavioral Scientist
Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Technostress: The human cost of the computer revolution
Letters-decline in teenage smoking with rise in mobile phone ownership: Hypothesis
British Medical Journal-International Edition
The psychology of optimal experience
Public displays of connection
BT Technology Journal
The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error
Journal of Marketing Research
A practical guide to factorial validity using PLS-Graph: Tutorial and annotated example
Communications of the Association for Information Systems
The ‘science of the sophomore’ revisited: From conjecture to empiricism
Academy of Management Review
Internet addiction: Fact or fiction?
The Psychologist
Cited by (491)
Increasing trust and value of mobile advertising in retailing: A survey design, machine learning approach, and blockchain in the trust path
2024, Journal of Retailing and Consumer ServicesThe effect of social appearance anxiety and loneliness on nomophobia levels of young adults
2024, Archives of Psychiatric NursingGraph neural networks based framework to analyze social media platforms for malicious user detection
2024, Applied Soft ComputingTechnology distraction in Generation Z: The effects on consumer responses, sensory overload, and discomfort
2024, International Journal of Information ManagementAssociations between mobile phone addiction and depressive symptoms in college students: A conditional process model
2024, Annales Medico-PsychologiquesAssessing problematic Facebook use: Psychometric properties of the Polish version of Facebook Intrusion Questionnaire
2024, Revue Europeenne de Psychologie Appliquee
- 1
These authors contributed equally to the work.