The financial and academic implications of using smartphones among students: a quantitative study

Abstract

Smartphones present students (users) with great opportunities to be connected with peers and lecturers in sharing academic knowledge during and after lectures. It also allows them to engage in social networking discussions and dialogue on different topics and ideas. This paper presents the financial implications of smartphone usage on student's finance, especially the case of South Africa. Students are mostly financially dependent on their parents, sponsors and others for financial benefits in their academic pursuit. This entails that students' financial base is mostly limited and the cost of a good smartphone is very high in developing countries like South Africa. This study involves a total sample size of 376 from the population of 11,265 registered students in 2017. The study found that university students spent a lot in buying airtime and data bundle to recharge their smartphones.