Exploring Problematic Use of Mobile Internet in a Nigerian University

Abstract

The study identified the prevalent ways by which students experience problematic use of mobile internet. It determined the level of problematic use of mobile internet experienced by the undergraduates of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Nigeria. It also investigated factors that may predict problematic use of mobile internet among the students. The study employs a survey research design to obtain data from 201 undergraduates selected by randomly from faculty colloquiums during the 2012/2013 session. A self-constructed questionnaire comprising items adapted from Demetrovics, Szeredi, and Rózsa (2008) was used to collect data from the respondents. Data collected were analysed using frequency, percentages, Relative significance index, Multiple regression, t-test and ANOVA. The results indicated that the prevalent ways by which students experience problematic use of mobile internet was in terms of feeling tense, irritated, or stressed when they cannot use their mobile internet for several days (RSI = 0.738). 17.9% of the participant experienced no problematic use of mobile internet while 27.4%, 45.3% and 9.5% of the participants have experienced low, high, and debilitating levels of mobile internet respectively. Also, there was no significant difference in the problematic use of mobile internet experienced by students at different academic levels in the university (F = 2.385, p=0.071). The study concluded that tertiary institution students are very susceptible to problematic use of mobile internet.

Keywords: Mobile internet; Problematic use; Internet addiction; Undergraduates; University.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-6-09

Publication date: February 28^th 2023