Nature of Youth Smartphone Addiction in Korea

Abstract

This study investigated the differences between smartphone users with high and low addiction tendencies among Korean college students. The analytical results revealed that more females were among the respondents with high addiction tendency. Highly addicted smartphone users have a greater level of motivation for chatting, caring for others, and accessibility to others than the low addictive users. The preference of smartphone activities, such as voice calls, social network sites(SNSs), and chatting, is shown among addicted smartphone users. In addition, those who showed higher level of addiction perceived smartphones more positively for bonding and bridging social relationships than those who have lower addictive tendency. As for the psychological traits, the respondents with high addiction tendency have higher shyness, loneliness and depression scores, and a lower self‐esteem score.