High Schoolers’ Usage Intensity of Mobile Social Media and Nomophobia: Investigating the Mediating Role of Flow Experience

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between high schoolers’ usage intensity of mobile social media and nomophobia through the mediation of flow experience. By adopting flow as a multidimensional construct; skill, machine interaction, and social interaction were included in the analysis as the conditions while concentration, enjoyment, and playfulness were included as the dimensions. A total of 584 adolescent mobile social media users participated in the study. The proposed model was tested through ordinary least-squares regression analysis and bootstrap methods. The findings showed that the usage intensity of the favorite mobile social media significantly predicts both conditions and dimensions of flow experience and nomophobia. In addition, the dimensions of flow experience together with skill significantly mediate the relationship between the usage intensity and nomophobia while the other conditions do not. These findings imply that as students spend more time on their favorite mobile social media, their nomophobic behaviors increase with the mediation of the dimensions and skill; but not the other conditions. The current study contributes to the relevant literature by associating nomophobia with flow experience on multiple mobile social media platforms. It also has implications for parents, school counselors, and educators of high school students.