Impact Of Adolescents Smartphone Use On Self -Regulation Skills

Abstract

Background: Smartphone use has become commonplace in modern society, no longer limited to adults but now an essential part of teenagers' daily lives. However, excessive smartphone use is a growing concern, manifesting as uncontrolled use that leads to numerous psychological, physical, emotional, and social problems. In many cases, teenagers demonstrate an ability to adapt to and overcome the negative effects of risks in the digital world. Objective: This study aimed to assess the relationship between excessive smartphone use and self-regulation skills of   educational behavior among adolescents. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional design. The study preparation was carried out in 30 schools from 179 schools by a self-reported questionnaire, by answering the smartphone addiction scale as well as the self-regulation scale. The study employed a two-stage sampling method: In the first stage, schools were selected systematically randomly, and in the second stage, the total participants (384) were selected using a probability stratified sampling technique from different schools from diverse educational stages. Result: The finding indicated to a weak negative correlation between overall Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS) scores and overall Academic Self-Regulation (SRQ-A) scores among adolescents (r = −0.203, p < 0.001).  Conclusion: Based on these results, the potential influence of smartphone uses on adolescents’ academic self-regulation, although the relationship is not strong. So that, the importance of developing educational efforts and supporting families through programs to develop self-regulation skills becomes clear, in addition to raising families’ awareness to reduce excessive use of smartphones by monitoring mobile phone usage hours and encouraging teenagers to engage in sports and group activities.