Measurement and Pedagogical Diagnosis of Phonoholism Among Adolescents

Abstract

Research objectives: Adolescence is one of the most difficult developmental periods. Studies have documented ill-being among adolescents (Chen & Lucock, 2022; Alimoradi et al., 2022; Lakkunarajah et al., 2022; Li et al., 2022). Furthermore, compared to adults, adolescents are vulnerable to smartphone addiction (Kwon et al., 2013). The aim of the present study was to investigate the extent to which mobile phone use bears the hallmarks of excessive smartphone addiction or so-called phonoholism (Barabsa, 2018).
 Research methods: The Polish version of the Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale for Adolescents (MPPUSA) was used (Krzyżak-Szymańska; 2018). A total of 684 adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years took part in the study. They were students from three schools – one primary and two secondary schools (a high school + technical school and a technical school + vocational school). The surveys are representative of these institutions.
 A short description of the context: As the scale has more than nine different cultural adaptations, the Polish data can be related to current global trends.
 Research findings: The results show that 14% of Polish adolescents are at risk and 3% use mobile phones problematically. Statistically significant relationships were found between the variable describing phone use among adolescents and both gender and type of school.
 Conclusions and/or recommendations: The MPPUSA only partially meets the needs of pedagogical diagnosis. There is little evidence from adolescents or data relating to students’ perspectives on phonoholism. The school pedagogue or class teacher should ask specific, multidimensional questions when diagnosing the problem. They should also use the clues from this preliminary diagnosis of the phenomenon in everyday school life concerning internet use.