Use of Smartphones among College Students in Nigeria: Revelations and Reflections
Charles Nwachukwu, Kevin Onyenankeya · Journal of Communication · 2017
ABSTRACTSmartphone empowered by the Global System of Mobile Communication (GSM) protocol has emerged as the most prevalent means of voice communication in Nigeria. Among college students the use of smartphones remains pervasive. The main objective of this paper was to examine what college students in Nigeria use smartphones for and the value they attach to ownership of GSM enabled smartphones. The paper also sought to determine linkages between college students’ smartphone usage and demographic variables such as age and gender. In all, 555 respondents completed a self-administered questionnaire. The results showed that 38.2 percent of students spent between 1 and 5 hours per day on their phones. Majority of the respondents (98%) used their phones to communicate with family and friends. About seventy-five percent used their smartphones for social networking. Only twenty-four percent of students engaged their smartphones for academic activities. Age and number of hours spent on phones were found to be signi...