Abstract

Background

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.

中文翻译：

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意大利因 COVID-19 封锁期间终生使用智能手机成瘾

摘要

背景

智能手机滥用，也称为 Nomophobia，是害怕无法使用自己的手机、无法连接或无法追踪。在由 COVID-19 引起的意大利封锁期间，虽然技术的使用是适应智能工作、学校和专业培训的基本基础，导致人们的生活方式发生了变化，但对智能手机的依赖导致了社会关系受损。迄今为止，智能手机依赖对男性和女性的影响尚不清楚。我们进行这项研究的假设是，一段时间的封锁会促进女性和男性对手机的病态使用的增长。

客观的

这项工作的目的是调查在 COVID-19 锁定期间青少年和成人对智能手机的依赖程度的性别差异。

材料与方法

NoMobilePhobia-Questionnaire (NMP-Q) 在线向 15 至 67 岁的 1264 名参与者展示。

结果

结果显示，考虑到的两个因素（参与者的性别和年龄）没有显着的主要影响。然而，显着的交互作用表明，女性参与者报告的 NMP-Q 平均得分高于男性，[F _(4,1253) = 7.06 和p <.001，观察到的功效接近 1 (0.99)，效应大小 = 0.03 ( ETA 部分平方）] 对于较年轻的年龄组（15-44 岁），而对于 44 岁以上的人，平均最高分是男性参与者。

结论

COVID-19 大流行的“积极”方面之一是互联网和智能手机的使用，我们的分析旨在用 NMP-Q 记录意大利背景下的使用频率。然而，我们也可以得出结论，这项研究是相关的，因为它可以让我们一瞥依赖和心理问题之间的关系。结果揭示了一些意大利人口发展为智能手机依赖形式的风险，尤其是在禁止直接社交互动的情况下。