Essay on Personality Traits & Problematic Internet/Smartphone Use

There have been endless researches, which aims to link internet overuse to personalities that people have. With the overlap present between the problematic smartphone use and problematic internet use, the study seeks to look through the personality traits that are linked to overuse in these platforms. The number of people that participated in the study included 612 people where 177 were males, and 435 were females, the majority of whom were students. In this number, 412 were females, and they owned smartphones while 160 were males. Every participant was seen to be a member of a behavioral project the information collected related to the smartphone addiction scale that was represented concerning another questionnaire. The average age of the participants was 23.55. All the participants were recruited in the context of the university.

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The participants were provided with surveys that they were required to complete, and they dealt with the use of technology and personality. For the study guide, participants were provided with information on how problematic they were with the use of smartphones and the internet. There also several questionnaires that require information on their personalities. Further, every participant provided consent before participating in the study.

Every participant completed an internet addiction test by Young. The questionnaire had 20 different items, and there was a Likert scale set up with five points per question that ranged from 1, which was rare to 5, which indicated always. The items that were used in the IAT focused on the times the participants were hiding the amount of time they spent online and whether the participants stayed online longer than they had intended. During the scoring of the questionnaire, it meant the addition of the 20 items. Increased scores illustrated increased tendencies for addiction and towards the internet. The possible ranges were 20 and 100 points.

There were different methods of analysis that were used to determine the actual results. Since the distribution of SAS and IAT variables were skewed, Spearman correlations were used in the study of the relations present among the variables of interest. The consequences of gender were diagnosed using the Mann Whitney test. Regardless of distinctions for the cut-off points being given, the addict or problematic distinction was not conducted in the study. There was a further investigation of the correlations of the personality traits and PSU/PIU using Fisher's z test. Since the outcomes demonstrated certain essentiality to the different sectors of personalities, self-directedness, regression analysis with hierarchy was conducted, and this had the inclusion of the investigation of a broad trait known as an essential use of the internet. It was obtained from the principal component analysis. There was also an analysis on patterns of correlation of the sub-dimensions with self-directedness relating to PSU and PIU

The study probed whether there were similar personality traits related to PSU and PIU. The research question is critical since both Push and PIU are moderately and associated correctly with each of them. It was then determined whether there was a link of PIU with Self Directedness and whether there was a prediction of higher PSU.

The study revealed that there was problematic digital use that faced both PSU and PIU. The trait investigated as the same variable for PSU and PIU was seen to be reduced levels of self-directedness. Those with reduced amounts of self-directedness expressed dissatisfaction with their personalities, and they cannot achieve the goals they plan and why they have low ill power. With the need for self-directedness in understanding the PIU in previously done studies, it was seen that these studies could be directed further to PIS. Furthermore, frequent observation of the relation of self-directedness to PIU it was replicated in different samples in the present study

In line with the personality addictions that were presented in the research, Fisher's z test illustrated the association present among PSU and personality were weak in comparison to the connection with the PIU. This, however, may be due to the difference in topics of discussions. However, to some extent, a smartphone is useless without internet connections, and this means that it is common to find overlaps with PIU. The analysis also focused on PIU and the addictive tendencies of PIU, and this goes beyond the small domains of smartphone usage.

The study highlighted the unique but essential links between the five-factor model and both the PSU and PIU, which is in line with earlier studies. It was found that the patients that had higher Neuroticism, reduced Agreeableness, and reduced conscientiousness were seen to have higher scores in both the IAT and SAS. This illustrates and goes in line with speculations that the people that were characterized by low agreeableness and preferred online interactions as opposed to interactions in real life a theory that is seen to social phobia.

Conclusion

The study illustrates the overlaps present between the personality structures and both PSU and PIU. This overlay is noticed for conscientiousness (low), Agreeableness (low), Neuroticism. This clearly illustrated that there was a relation between the prevalence of low self-directedness to troublesome smartphone and internet use, and this was seen to be highly robust. While the study was complete and highlighted important issues, there is some weakness, and this should be addressed in future research. There is a need to find a difference between generalized addictions to smartphones to distinct kinds of smartphone addiction.

Reference

Lachmann, B., Duke, E., Sariyska, R., & Montag, C. (2017). Who's Addicted to the Smartphone and/or the Internet?.