Phubbing and gender in an academic sector in quito: Use, abuse and interference of technology

Abstract

The objective of the present study is to explain the interference of technology in daily life, performing a differential study by gender. The specific objectives are to ascertain if there are significant differences between men and women as regards periods of time, reasons for using technology, technological devices used, social problems that arise from the interference of technological devices in different aspects of life, time that is possible to spend without technology, feelings of guilt and perception of addiction. In order to accomplish these objectives, 3,793 people were surveyed. The sample is made up of students, academic, administrative and service staff from an academic institution located in Quito (Ecuador). Descriptive analyses, t student test and chi squared were performed. It has been demonstrated that there are addictive behaviors to information and communication technologies, as well as the presence of phubbing in the surveyed population. Moreover, significant differences between genders were verified.