Perception of the use of the mobile phone in students from primary education to university degree

Abstract

Currently, the mobile phone has become one more object of everyday life; It is not easy to find someone who does not have one. In the case of teen-agers, together with problems in studies, help with housework or interpersonal relationships, the use of the mobile phone is revealed as one of the main causes of conflict. The aim of this work is to know the self-perception that young people (from 5th grade of Primary Education to University) have on variables related to the use of mobile phones, as well as their perception of whether they consider their use of it more or less problematic. A non-experimental research has been carried out with an ex post facto design and a sample of 1716 subjects to whom an ad hoc questionnaire that includes the Spanish adaptation of the Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale (Bianchi and Phillips, 2005), as well as other classification variables has been applied. Parametric hypothesis contrast tests have been carried out and the results indicates that the participants do not appreciate high rates of abusive behaviors towards the mobile phone in any of the educational stages, finding significant differences caused by any of the variables studied in any of the educational stages. The analyzes carried out reveal the perception of a higher use of the mobile phone in intermediate age (high school students), as well as in girls.