Academic Use of Smartphones and Academic Performance in Higher Education: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Smartphones may be particularly prone to distracting students, allowing them to spend more time engaging with their devices rather than focusing on academic tasks. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of the use of smartphones on student academic performance in higher education. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines to guarantee the inclusion of relevant academic materials. We examined 8 out of 299 documents gathered from the Education Resources Information Centre (ERIC), Scopus, and Web of Science (WoS) databases that were published since 2018. During the screening phase, excel files with details about the paper, including title, author and abstract, were exported from the database. Specifically, these papers focused on parameters such as primary, middle and high school students, smartphone addiction. Our bibliometric assessment shows that research on the use of smartphones for specific academic purposes has remained scarce in recent years, and most of the studies are located in Asian countries. The research supports that the academic use of smartphones has a significant positive impact on student academic performance in higher education. It shows that using smartphones for learning purposes has various positive effects on students' learning in and out of the classroom, such as motivating students, increasing their collaboration and interaction, and improving their engagement in learning. Also, the study found positive student attitudes toward the use of smartphone-assisted learning apps. We concluded that smartphone use has a significant positive impact on academic performance.