Patterns of Use and Dependency on Smartphone by the Bangladeshi Urban Youths
Rakib Ahmed
Uzzwal Kumar Mondal
Nishat Parvez
Abstract
The smartphone is one of the most popular new communication devices amongst urban youths in Bangladesh. The youths use smartphones for multiple purposes including to remain updated with the flow of information, access entertainment content, and maintain communication with friends and social acquaintances. Besides, as this study finds, the youths consider the smartphone as a trendy device in their social life. This research saw how Bangladeshi urban youths were influenced by smartphones. From a theoretical standpoint, the uses and gratification theory has been applied to analyze various aspects of smartphone usage by young users. The researchers conducted a survey with a structured questionnaire among 100 smartphone users based in Dhaka and its suburb Savar area. There were three key findings: i) youths spend maximum hours [of total time they spent with smartphone in a day] by browsing through the cyberspace, predominantly on social networking sites; ii) youths consider ownership of smartphone as well as access to internet through it as an integral instrument to achieve their goals; and iii) excessive use of smartphone creates dependency on the device, leading towards an addiction to this gadget
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