Abstract

This study aims to determine the nomophobia levels of pre-service teachers, the variables affecting their nomophobia levels, and the relationship between the levels of nomophobia and cyberloafing. The study, which was designed as a correlational study, was conducted with the voluntary participation of 666 pre-service teachers. The data of the study were collected using a personal information form, the Nomophobia Scale (NMP-Q), and the Cyberloafing Scale. The results showed that 528 students (79.3%) had a moderate and high level of nomophobia while 138 students (20.7%) had a low level of nomophobia. As a result of the analyses conducted to determine whether the nomophobia levels of teacher trainees differed depending on gender, it was seen that the nomophobia level of women was statistically higher than that of men. It was concluded that the nomophobia levels of the pre-service teachers did not vary depending on the level of education and their experience of using smartphones. Although, the results gathered from the first analysis results indicated that the nomophobia levels of the pre-service teachers depicted difference concerning the departments at which they studied, this difference proved insignificant as indicated by the anteceding detailed analyses carried out. It was concluded that the nomophobia levels of the pre-service teachers differed significantly depending upon the amount of time they spend on social media. The last finding of the study concluded that cyberloafing significantly predicted nomophobia levels of pre-service teachers. Based on this result, it can be said that the pre-service teachers’ cyberloafing behaviors will increase their tendency to exhibit nomophobic behaviors. For further research, mixed studies in which qualitative methods will also be used to obtain more in-depth data can be designed. It was also found out that the nomophobia levels of the pre-service teachers differed significantly based on their daily social media usage time.

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