Smartphone Addiction and Academic Achievement among College Students

In this digital era, smartphones are indispensable portable gadgets for college students everyday life and academic pursuits. As a means of communication, entertainment, and information access, smartphone devices have grown indispensable to college students. Despite the convenience that smartphones offer, they also lead to new societal issues like addiction and harmful habits related to smartphone use (Al-Kandari, 2021). Some information on demographic and student related variables also collected. Smartphone use is almost universally relied on among college students. The main question whether smartphone addiction among college students has a negative predictive effect on academic performance is hardly studied. Previous research found an apparent association between smartphone use and various academic and personality variables among college students. Now a days college students very much extensively engaged in using a smartphone. This study aims to assess the relationship between smartphone addiction and students academic performance and also studying the gender differences in smartphone addiction and academic achievement. Methods: A sample of 80 undergraduate students (40 males and 40 females) was randomly selected from Ahilyanagar city. Students were asked to fill out a questionnaire that included smartphone addiction and academic achievement. Smartphone Addiction Scale (Yang 2013) & Achievement motivation scale by Dr. Bhargava was used for collecting the data on smartphone addiction and academic achievement variables. Results: By using t statistics, the difference between male and female college students with respect to smartphone addiction and academic achievement was analysed. Gender difference found among college students with respect to smartphone addiction. Correlation analysis technique was used to study the association between smartphone addiction and academic achievement among college students. Negative association was found between smartphone addiction and academic achievement among college students. 69 % reported smartphone use for at least 5 hours during a weekday. Conclusion: Gender differences found among college students with respect to smartphone addiction Negative relationship found between smartphone addiction and academic achievement among college students. Findings from our study can be used to better inform college administrators and faculty about most-at- risk groups of students who shall be targeted in any intervention designed to enhance low academic performance and motivation.