Smartphone addiction across the lifetime during Italian lockdown for COVID-19

Fonte: Journal of Addictive Diseases del 03/03/2021


Pubblicato il 10/03/2021

La nomofobia (no-mobile-phobia o sindrome da disconnessione) è la paura di non poter utilizzare il proprio cellulare, di non essere connessi o rintracciabili. Una forma di dipendenza, caratterizzata dall'uso eccessivo dello smartphone dovuto alla costante necessità di consultarlo per visualizzare notifiche e aggiornamenti. La presente ricerca, condotta durante l'emergenza da COVID-19, ha ipotizzato che il periodo di lockdown abbia favorito l'aumento dell'uso improprio del cellulare. Nell'articolo è citato anche il lavoro del prof. Tonino Cantelmi e del dr. Emiliano Lambiase.

Authors 
Pasquale Caponnetto , PhD, Lucio Inguscio , PhDORCID Icon, Sara Valeri , PhD, Marilena Maglia , Clinical Psychologist and Psychotherapist, Riccardo Polosa , PhD, Carlo Lai , PhDORCID Icon & Giuliana Mazzoni , PhD

 
 
Abstract
Smartphone misuse, also known as Nomophobia is the fear of not being able to consult your own mobile phone, of not being connected or traceable. During the Italian lockdown caused by COVID-19, while the use of technology was the fundamental basis of adaptation for smart working, school and professional training, leading to a change in the population’s lifestyle, smartphone dependency caused impaired social relationships. To date, the impact of smartphone dependency in men and women is unclear. We conducted this study with the hypothesis that a period of lockdown fosters the growth of a pathological use of the cell phone different in women and men.
 
Objective
The purpose of this work is to investigate gender differences in the level of smartphone dependency in teens and adults during the COVID-19 lockdown period.
 
Material and methods
The NoMobilePhobia-Questionnaire (NMP-Q) was presented online to 1264 participants between the ages of 15 and 67.
 
Results
The results show no significant main effects for the two factors taken into account (Gender and Age of participants). However, the significant interaction shows that female participants reported on average higher scores on NMP-Q than males, [F(4,1253) =7.06 and p<.001, observed power close to 1 (0.99) and effect size = 0.03 (ETA partial squared)] for the younger age group (15–44), while for those over the age of 44, the average highest scores were for male participants.
 
Conclusions
One of the "positive" aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic is the use of the Internet and smartphones, and our analysis aimed to document the frequency of use in the Italian context with the NMP-Q. However, we can also conclude that this research is relevant because it can give us a glimpse of the relationship between dependency and mental issues. The results reveal the risk in some of the Italian population of developing forms of smartphone dependency, especially in circumstances that prohibit direct social interactions.
 
 
 
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