Techno stress: The relationship of psychological traits with compulsive smartphone usage of college students in Metro Manila

• Main Authors: Murad, Noel Sajud I., Perez, John Terrence, Queñano, Lora
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2018
• Subjects: College students—Philippines—Metro Manila—Psychology; Stress in adolescence—Philippines; Smartphones; Social and Behavioral Sciences; Technology and Innovation
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/10902
• Institution: De La Salle University

Almost every household in Metro Manila owns or has access to smartphones nowadays. Smartphones are no longer exclusive to the working class - even students own smartphones that have become part of their daily routine. In most cases, the smartphone is now used to supplement studying. Due to the smartphone’s demand among students, the researchers were interested in finding the relationship of psychological traits namely locus of control, social interaction anxiety, need for touch, and materialism with the compulsive usage of smartphones among students currently enrolled in colleges and universities within Metro Manila. The study aimed to find out if the compulsive usage of smartphones will have a positive or negative effect on them. Knowing the results would greatly help the researchers, the academe, and the parents understand the extent that smartphones should be integrated in studying habits. The study used the ‘Theory of Planned Behavior’ as the framework identifying four independent variables namely locus of control, social interaction anxiety, need for touch, and materialism. The effects of these were observed in three dependent variables namely compulsive smartphone usage, motivation, and techno stress. The researchers also classified interpersonal skills as a moderating variable. A CrossSectional Descriptive Design was employed to determine smartphone use and dependence of college students and to identify the effect of interpersonal skills on compulsive smartphone usage, which leads to either motivation in studying or techno stress. In addition, a quantitative research design was followed, wherein descriptive variables were measured through their numerical counterparts and then analyzed using statistical methods. The researcher also aimed to evaluate the correlation between smartphone usage time and frequency, and smartphone dependence and its effects, if any. The participants were selected through non-probability sampling from the colleges and universities within Metro Manila.Based on statistical results, the locus of control has the highest score leading to compulsive smartphone usage, while the need for touch had the lowest score. All other psychological traits have statistically significant values on compulsive smartphone usage, with the exception of the need of touch, which got an insignificant result.With these results, the researchers noted low self-control in smartphone use among the 303 respondents of the study. Respondents with social interaction anxiety tend to engage more time on their smartphones. Materialism was also noted among the respondents due to the social impact of possessing a smartphone. Furthermore, the relationship between compulsive smartphone usage and techno stress is statistically significant compared to the relationship between compulsive smartphone usage and motivation, which got an insignificant score. Thus, the researchers conclude that compulsive usage of smartphones has a negative effect, particularly techno stress on the respondents. The researchers recommend the replication of the study using a larger number of participants from other key cities in the Philippines. Marketers may be interested in conducting the same study in corporations to test compulsive smartphone usage, motivation to work, and techno stress in employees. Future researchers may consider using a long-term design with a mixed-methods approach for a more comprehensive study.