Abstract
Rapid technological innovations over the past few years have led to dramatic changes in today's mobile phone technology. While such changes can improve the quality of life of its users, problematic mobile phone use can result in its users experiencing a range of negative outcomes such as anxiety or, in some cases, engagement in unsafe behaviors with serious health and safety implications such as mobile phone distracted driving. The aims of the present study are two-fold. First, this study investigated the current problem mobile phone use in Australia and its potential implications for road safety. Second, based on the changing nature and pervasiveness of mobile phones in Australian society, this study compared data from 2005 with data collected in 2018 to identify trends in problem mobile phone use in Australia. As predicted, the results demonstrated that problem mobile phone use in Australia increased from the first data collected in 2005. In addition, meaningful differences were found between gender and age groups in this study, with females and users in the 18–25 year-old age group showing higher mean Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale (MPPUS) scores. Additionally, problematic mobile phone use was linked with mobile phone use while driving. Specifically, participants who reported high levels of problem mobile phone use, also reported handheld and hands-free mobile phone use while driving.
Highlights
The use of smartphones has continued to amplify over the years, with the total number of smartphone users worldwide projected to surpass the 2.5 billion mark in 2019 [1]
The reliability analysis revealed an overall Cronbach’s α of 0.954 for all 26 items. This value indicates that the Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale (MPPUS) demonstrated high reliability in the current Australian sample
The current study is a recent replication of the Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale (MPPUS) in an Australian sample
Summary
The use of smartphones has continued to amplify over the years, with the total number of smartphone users worldwide projected to surpass the 2.5 billion mark in 2019 [1]. Other Western countries such as the United States of America, for instance, have found approximately 64% of its population to use a smartphone as of 2017 [3]. In developing countries such as India, smartphone ownership rates were expected to reach 36% by 2018 [4], and 46.1% in Sub-Saharan Africa by the end of the same year [5]. Such high ownership rates in Australia and across the globe can be attributed to scale manufacturing practices, socio-economic factors, and advancements in technology over the years
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