Social Impacts of Mobile Addiction Among Youth

Abstract

Mobile phones are important for communication and social interactions and are crucial to people's lives. It is for protecting social relationships and exchanging information among people. This study aims to explain the social consequences of mobile addiction among youth in the Kurdistan Region and identify the positive and negative effects. A combination of symbolic interaction theory and social capital theory is applied. In March of 2024, the data were collected from 534 random youth in the governorates of Erbil, Slemani, Duhok, and Halabja through a questionnaire on Google Forms. The results showed that mobile addiction has psychological, health, social, and educational impacts. It has changed all the types of social interactions between individuals and social capital. The most important consequences are that mobile devices are a way of sharing memories and communications with others, are a factor in building and continuing communication with others, and are a significant device for learning and getting information. In contrast, mobiles have negative effects, which are causing waste of time, increased fatigue, failure to complete tasks, anxiety, and not feeling a sense of social security. Moreover, this device caused eye problems, sleep disorders, and a lack of physical activity. Furthermore, the device limits the brain’s ability to store information, and it leads to excessive and unnecessary distractions. In addition, it has caused weakness and tension at the level of the primary and vertical relations. This has led to a contradictory situation in the youths’ social relationships.