Abstract:

This study aimed to examine whether there was a difference in neck proprioception abilities between individuals with and without smartphone addiction. Healthy young adults aged 18–24 years and who volunteered to participate in the study were included in the sample. After obtaining the demographic information of all the participants, neck joint position errors were evaluated using the Tracker Laser system. Then, the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Form was administered to the participants to evaluate the degree of smartphone addiction. According to the results, the individuals were divided into two groups as smartphoneaddicted and non-addicted. This study was concluded with a total of 176 individuals, including 40 (22.7%) smartphone-addicted and 136 (67.3%) non-addicted participants. A statistically positive moderate correlation was found between the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Form total scores and smartphone use frequency (p <.001, r  =.481). The joint position error distances of neck flexion (p <.001), neck extension (p <.001), and left neck rotation (p  =.002) were higher in the smartphone-addicted group than in the nonaddicted group. This study showed that as the duration of smartphone use increased in young adults, the degree of smartphone addiction also increased. In addition, young adults addicted to smartphone use had poorer neck proprioception ability than non-addicted adults.

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