Does social media usage threaten future human resources by causing smartphone addiction? A study on students aged 9-12

Abstract

Social media usage and smartphone addiction vary according to gender, Internet access plan, and smartphone ownership. In childhood, uncontrolled social media usage opens the way to cases of smartphone addiction. This study investigates the interactions among the factors of time spent on social media, gender, and smartphone ownership with social media usage and examines the links between social media usage and smartphone addiction. In addition, the study aims to provide recommendations based on the results regarding the negative effects of social media overuse and smartphone addiction on children. In this empirical study, the data on perceptions concerning social media usage and smartphone addiction were gathered using a questionnaire completed by 1,147 children aged 9-12 studying in the public schools. Subsequently, data have been analyzed with the program SPSS 24.0 and presented in tables. The findings show the factors of time spent on social media, gender, and smartphone ownership to have an impact on social media usage. The results also provide support for the effect of social media usage on smartphone addiction