An Exploration of Loneliness among Smartphone Addict Adolescent Students: A Mixed Method Approach

Abstract

The present study examined the loneliness among smartphone addict adolescent students based on gender and subject stream. For the research study, a mixed-method research design was adopted. A multistage sampling technique was used to choose the sample. A sample of 450 smartphone addict adolescent students was randomly selected from different government higher secondary schools of Kashmir Valley. For the collection of data, the Loneliness Scale by Hamid and Parvez (2020), the Smartphone Addiction Scale by Vijayshri and Ansari (2020), and semi-structured interviews were used. Statistical techniques like percentage, t-test, and ANOVA were used to draw inferences. The results reveal that the majority of smartphone addict students have a moderate to high level of loneliness. The result based on t-test shows no significant difference between male and female smartphone addict adolescent students on loneliness. The results of ANOVA reveal no significant difference among arts, science, and commerce smartphone addict adolescent students on loneliness. Furthermore, it was found that factors like lack of social interaction, poor communication skills, lack of meaningful relationships, poor self-esteem, and unhealthy habits lead to loneliness among students due to smartphone addiction.

Keywords: Loneliness, Smartphone Addict, Adolescent, Gender, Subject Stream