Problematic Relationships with Smartphones of Spanish and Colombian University Students

Abstract

The presence of smartphones in the lives of the population in general, and of youth in particular, is evident, and is derived from elements such as the diversity of prices as well as the ease of access of all the resources that can be reached through the internet. With the use of a descriptive approach using a quantitative poll, the objective of the present study was to discover the opinions of university students in Spain and Colombia about smartphone use, as well as the consequences of its use, and if this use could derive into so-called problematic smartphone use (PSU). For gathering the information, the Mobile Phone Problematic Use Scale (MPPUSA) was utilized, with a sample size n = 4009. The main result reached was that the model obtained is structured around six factors that determined the elements in light of PSU. The initial conclusion found was that the model applied can be utilized with Colombian students, with young Spanish women and students in the macro area of Social Sciences, the ones who had problematic behavior with the devices, as compared to the Health Sciences students who did not have it.