Smartphone Addiction, Loneliness, And Mindfulness Among Young Adults

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17786855

Abstract

The study aimed at exploring the relationship between smartphone addiction, loneliness, and mindfulness among young adults. A sample of 200 young adults (Age range 19-34 years) was recruited from different college and universities of Lahore in 2024 through convenient sampling. Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS-SV; Kwon, Kim, Cho & Yang, 2013; α = 0.83), UCLA loneliness Scale (Russell, Peplau & Ferguson, 1978; α = 0.92), Mindfulness Scale (Brown & Ryan, 2003; α = 0.87) were used to measure smartphone addiction, loneliness, and mindfulness respectively. The data was gathered, refined and analyzed with descriptive analysis, correlation t-test and regression analyses. The Results revealed smartphone addiction was significantly negatively correlated with mindfulness (r= -.301**, p<.01) and significantly positively correlated with loneliness (r=0.314**, p<.01). mindfulness and loneliness were also significantly negatively correlated (r= -.505**, p<.01). No gender differences were observed on all study variables. A simple linear regression analysis revealed that higher smartphone addiction significantly predicted greater loneliness, [β = 0.16, t(198) = 2.79, p < .01], and lower mindfulness, [β = –0.12, t(198) = –2.46, p = .01]. The study carries important implications for educational institutions, clinicians, and policymakers, highlighting the need to address problematic smartphone use among young adults to help prevent its psychological and social consequences.

Keywords: Smartphone Addiction, Loneliness, Mindfulness, Psychological and Social consequences, uncontrolled digitalization