Uso problemático de internet e impacto negativo de whatsapp en población universitaria

Abstract

Abstract The Internet has burst into society becoming an essential element in various areas of our lives. Although Internet access has multiple benefits, its excessive use can become problematic and have negative consequences similar to those experienced in behavioural addictions. Instant messaging is one of the activities that has been linked to the problematic Internet use. Among instant messaging applications WhatsApp is currently the most valued and used by young people in Spain. WhatsApp increasingly catches the attention of users, who use this application anywhere and at any time without taking into account the possible impact on their behaviour. This research aimed to deepen the knowledge of problematic Internet use and WhatsApp among young people. For this, the relationship between problematic Internet use and the negative impact of WhatsApp with the Big Five personality factors, psychological wellbeing, negative mood and impulsivity among college students in the Murcia region was analysed. WhatsApp Negative Impact Scale (EINEW) was developed and validated to evaluate the impact that this application has on users, as there was no scale to date. The sample consisted of 630 students from the University of Murcia and Universidad Catolica San Antonio de Murcia, aged between 18 and 62 years. The results indicated that the problematic Internet use and the negative impact of WhatsApp were directly related. Thus, the greater the problematic Internet use the greater the negative impact of WhatsApp experienced by university students, and vice versa. The problematic Internet use was directly related to neuroticism, impulsivity and negative mood and inversely with age, extraversion, affability, openness to experience, responsibility and psychological well-being. Regarding WhatsApp, sex and having a partner influenced in the negative impact of WhatsApp, it was women and students with partners who scored higher. The negative impact of WhatsApp was also directly related to neuroticism, impulsivity and negative mood and inversely with age, extroversion, affability, openness to experience, responsibility and psychological well-being. A direct relationship between mobile abuse and negative impact of WhatsApp was observed, that is, the more abused mobile college students the greater negative impact of WhatsApp experienced and vice versa. When exploring the vibration / ghost sound syndrome, it was found that students who felt vibration and phantom sound had more problematic use of WhatsApp compared to those who only perceived vibration. It was also observed that students who felt vibration and phantom sound were more mobile abusers than those who perceived only vibration or sound and that students who did not experience neither vibration nor phantom sound were more mobile abusers compared to those who felt vibration and / or phantom sound. The stepwise regression analysis indicated that mobile abuse, impulsivity and neuroticism predicted the problematic Internet use. As for WhatsApp, mobile abuse, neuroticism, and extroversion directly predicted the negative impact of WhatsApp while responsibility, openness to experience, and psychological well-being predisposed it in reverse. Finally, all the results are discussed. In addition, the clinical implications, limitations of the study, as well as future work perspectives are described.