Smartphone Addiction Culminating into Youth Deviance: A Sociological Study

Abstract

The study is conducted among adolescents consisting of college students, students in higher secondary schools, and dropout youth, to investigate any risks associated with adolescents' problematic cell phone use to analyze the usual traits of a person who is psychologically hooked. The project's primary goal was to assess the risk of smartphones among teenagers. In 2022, 1080 students (40% girls and 60% boys) between the ages of 15 and 19 completed well-structured surveys particularly among late adolescents (648 males and 432 females out of 1080 samples). They were asked questions about how much time teenagers spend online each day, how often using a Smartphone leads to arguments and a variety of other topics. The study's findings suggested that owning a cell phone is a regular and everyday occurrence. The way adolescents use mobile phones is significantly different depending on the respondents' gender and age, but the disparities were particularly obvious in the comparative study of boys and girls. Boys and girls are both equally found to be indulged in smartphones beyond ordinary uses. It badly impacts their physical and mental health causing hearing impairment, irritation, stress, intolerance, etc. Smartphone-dependent teenagers are found to have a lax attitude towards deviant behaviors, specifically watching/reading pornography, hukka or smoking or drug or alcohol use, using violence, buying drugs and condoms for friends, truanting, lying, implicating false accusations, live-in relationships, break-ups, divorce, having a boyfriend or girlfriend, inter caste marriage, run-away marriages, pre-marital sexual activity, late marriage, reckless driving, and ultimately, suicide even when they are physically apart, people may be virtually connected.