An Analysis of University Students’ Fear of Mobile Phone Deprivation (Nomophobia) and Levels of Happiness

Despite the undeniable fact that smartphones make our lives easier, their excessive use can have negative consequencesleading to nomophobia and unhappiness. In this regard, this study aims to determine the nomophobia and happiness levels ofpreservice teachers studying at the faculty of education at a public university in the West Black Sea Region, Turkey. The datawere collected from 424 preservice teachers through the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire and the NomophobiaQuestionnaire. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used in theanalysis phase of the study conducted by the survey method. The relationship between nomophobia and happiness levels ofpreservice teachers was determined with the Pearson Correlation Coefficient (r). As a result of the study, the nomophobia andhappiness levels of the preservice teachers were found moderate. No statistical significance was observed between the genderand levels of happiness of the preservice teachers, whereas a significant difference was observed between the levels ofnomophobia, which were found higher in the female preservice teachers than those of the men. Similarly, no significantdifference was found between the class levels and the nomophobia levels of the preservice teachers, while a significantdifference was found between the class levels and the happiness levels. Considering the difference at the class level, itappeared that the happiness levels of the third-year students were higher than those of the first and second-year students. Ahigh positive correlation was observed between the preservice teachers’ levels of nomophobia and its sub-factors (Lack ofAccess to Information, Relinquishing the Comfort, Failing to Communicate, Loss of Online Connection), whereas no significantrelationship was found between nomophobia and happiness levels.