THE IMPACT OF SMARTPHONE ADDICTION ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF THE UNDERGRADUATES IN SRI LANKA (WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE SABARAGAMUWA UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA)

Abstract

It is commonly known that smartphones are useful in the human life. But excessive use of smartphone usually makes students addicted to it. The study aimed at investigating the influence of smartphone addiction on the academic performance of the undergraduates. This survey was conducted using the quantitative research approach, and a structured questionnaire has been used to accumulate data. A total of 300 questionnaires were collected from the undergraduates at the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka using a Multistage sampling technique. The Structural Equation Model was constructed to test the hypothesis. Results revealed that the daily-life disturbance, positive anticipation, and tolerance exposed to smartphoneaddiction significantly affected their academic performance. Furthermore,the results showed that most of the students prioritize the use of smartphonesthan their academic performance and smartphone addiction causes disturbances of daily life activities. It can be concluded that smartphone addiction induces the effect on poor academic performance. This survey suggested that the students should reduce the heavy usage of smartphones to carry out their academic performance effectively.