Problematic Smartphone Use among Young People and the Use of Additional Social Networking Software—an Example from Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

The aim of the article is to reveal the level of problematic smartphone use (PSU) among young people, with an additional aim being to diagnose the level of use of applications offering ready access to popular social networks (SNS—e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, Pinterest). The text fills a gap related to the scale and mechanisms of PSUs. The research was conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2022, and is the first study of its kind in the country. A total of 1,024 young people participated in the study (age range 14–19 years; Female 627, Male 397). From the data collected, it was noted that: 1) Loss of control of the duration of smartphone use is the most common symptom of PSU; 2) Around 40% of respondents report having problems with self-control of duration of smartphone use; 3) 17.19% of the sample have high intensity of almost all diagnostic criteria of PSU; 4) About 1/3 of respondents declare no symptoms of PSU; 5) High intensity of PSU is more common in girls than in boys; 6) Instagram and TikTok are the most frequently used applications on smartphones; 7) More than half of the respondents use Instagram software constantly or almost constantly during the day, while less than 40% use TikTok-enabled software; 8) Girls are slightly more likely to use Instagram-enabled and TikTok-enabled software on smartphones; 9) Frequency of use of SNS software on smartphones is a poor predictor of PSU rates.