The ubiquity of the smartphone has led researchers to devote much attention to the psychological, behavioral, and social implications of personal technologies. There is vast research into the benefits of social media: sustaining close friendships, building new connections with individuals from diverse backgrounds, demonstrating support for meaningful causes, and becoming civic minded [16,17]. Moreover, smartphone-based interventions enhance the effects of policies on a range of outcomes, including the adoption of positive healthy habits and educational activities [18,19]. Smartphone use seems to have significant impacts on improving student performance, teaching, and learning experiences and is regarded as a key component in the development of social environment [20]. Students benefit from the incorporation of smartphone use in educational activities by efficiently accessing vast course content, participating in debate sessions with professors, and retrieving information regarding student performance [21,22].

Young adults' excessive, addictive, and problematic technology use has been continuously reported alongside the rise in technology adoption. An abundance of research has correlated smartphone usage with negative psychological and behavioral implications, including anxiety, insomnia, and depression [23,24]. Constantly checking communication updates, feeling restless without close proximity to a phone, and suffering delays in professional performance due to prolonged phone activities are indicators of smartphone addiction [25,26]. Excessive use of smartphones can also result in various impacts on physical health, such as fatigue, indigestion, sleep issues, and eyesight problems [27,28]. Parasuraman et al [29] investigated the impact on daily life of smartphones on 55-year-old and 18-year-old age groups and learned that a significant portion of the participants had an addiction to smartphone usage but were unaware of it due to smartphones having become an integral part of their lives [29].

Adolescents who are addicted to personal technology face diminishing social skills and challenges in developing friendships in the real world [30]. Exploring the relationship between social internet use and loneliness, Nowland et al [31] concluded that loneliness can be reduced when the digital world is used to maintain or forge more social connections. However, when people use the internet to avoid physical social activities and day-to-day problems, their loneliness increases. Consequently, they develop a preference to continue using the internet in a way that displaces time spent in offline social interactions. One study demonstrated that adolescents who were more addicted to their phones had an increased risk of feeling the 6 variants of social alienation: powerlessness, normlessness, meaninglessness, self-estrangement, cultural estrangement, and social isolation [32].

Many studies have also assessed the potential correlation of age, gender, and personality variables on smartphone addiction. Adolescents with somatization, poor self-control, interpersonal sensitivity, and hostility tend to be more likely to get addicted to smartphones [33-35]. Neuroticism, conscientiousness, and openness are traits that were found to be negatively correlated with smartphone addiction [36]. Furthermore, research shows that males and females use their phones for different reasons. Female smartphone use is more strongly related to sociability, interpersonal relationships, and the desire to maintain connections [7]. Comparatively, males use their smartphones more extensively for media sharing, video games, and online searches [36]. Many studies found smartphone addiction being more prevalent in younger adolescents [37,38]. A study involving 1529 students aged 11 to 18 years found that younger adolescents (11-14 years) had a higher prevalence of problematic smartphone usage than did older adolescents (15-18 years) [15].

When US adolescents were asked directly, 31% perceived the effects of social media as mostly positive, 45% believed the effects to be neither positive nor negative, and 24% stated the effects as mostly negative. Those who considered the effects of social media to be positive indicated that it helps in maintaining connectivity with family and friends, obtaining access to information, and meeting like-minded people. Those who considered the effects of social media to be negative explained that it increases the risks of addiction, hate speech, neglecting face-to-face contacts, and obtaining unrealistic views of others’ lives [39]. Similarly, Ozkan and Solmaz [40] examined the correlation between mobile addiction and perception of one’s own personal technology. Through a survey of 18 to 23-year-old university students, they concluded that addiction to technology is related to self-perception technology use. There was a statistically significant correlation between the perception that smartphone apps are useful tools for communicating with people and time being spent on the phone.

Davis and Dinhopl [14] studied the similarities and differences in the way parents and adolescents described their own and each other’s phone use in the context of family life. Both expressed a lack of agency in their own and each other’s smartphone use, feeling displaced by the other’s smartphone and highly reliant on their own smartphone. In addition, parents felt guilty about the impact of their phone overuse on their children, whereas adolescents’ expression of guilt was based on what their parents and society thought of their phone use. Lopez-Fernandez et al [15] conducted a study in which adolescents were asked to indicate whether they felt that any of their peers used their smartphones excessively. Results showed that adolescents with problematic smartphone usage were more likely to consider their peers’ smartphone usage to be problematic.

Previous research has investigated adolescents’ relationship with technology through their use of technology, their own perceptions, or their parents’ perspectives. Whereas, our research used a multi-lens approach to explore alignments and mismatches in adolescent’s perceptions of their own versus others’ relationship with technology as well as their current versus aspirational relationship.

The top 3 selected descriptors that adolescents chose to describe their own relationship with technology were “Distractive,” “Essential,” and “Provides an escape.” This trend was consistent across genders and age groups (13 to 15-, 16 to 17-, and 18 to 19-year olds).

However, “Distractive” was chosen more often by females. In addition, 13 to 15-year olds selected “Provides an escape” the most. Among all descriptors, “Hurtful” was the least selected across all ages and genders. Table 3 summarizes the percentage of times each descriptor was selected overall (by everyone) and within each segment (male, female, 13 to 15-year old, 16 to 17- year old, 18 to 19-year old).

To describe others' (parents, siblings, friends) relationship with technology, the top 3 descriptors selected by adolescents were “Essential,” “Distractive,” and “Addictive.” Among all descriptors, “Hurtful” was least selected. These trends were consistent across genders and age groups. Table 4 summarizes the percentage of times each descriptor was selected.

Adolescents’ aspirations of a persona for their personal technology varied across age ranges. The majority (39/74, 52%) of females in the 13 to 15-year old group selected “My best friend” the most. The 16 to 17-year-old group selected “I don't believe in personal connection with mobile technology” and “My personal assistant”, whereas the 18 to 19-year-old group chose “My personal assistant” most frequently. Table 5 shows the percentage of times each persona was selected.

A side-by-side comparison of adolescents’ own relationship (lens 1) versus others’ relationship (lens 2) revealed some notable similarities in the way adolescents perceive their own versus others' relationship with personal technology. The Venn diagram in Figure 2 shows an overview of the alignment and mismatch between adolescents’ perceptions of their own versus others' relationship with personal technology.

We found that adolescents perceive their own as well as others' relationship with personal technology as “Essential,” Distractive,” and “Addictive.” However, there were some key differences in how adolescents perceive their own versus others' relationship with their personal technology. Adolescents associate “Provide an escape” more with their own relationship with technology. However, they attributed “It's just a tool” and “Creates Barrier” more often to others' relationship with personal technology. Moreover, adolescents did not associate “Hurtful,” “Overwhelming,” or “Emotional” with their own or others' relationship with technology.

Adolescents associated “Provide an escape” more with their own technology, whereas they associated “Creates barrier” and “It’s just a tool” more for describing others' relationship with personal technology. This difference has not been highlighted in prior research.

We were able to produce these findings by applying a multi-lens approach. A deeper understanding of the factors underlying these findings is critical and may have direct implications on technology designed for adolescents.

As mentioned earlier, adolescents selected “My personal assistant” the most when asked about their aspirations of a persona for their personal technology in question 3. We further cross-compared adolescents’ aspirations (lens 3) and perceptions of current relationship with technology (lens 1). One interesting association which surfaced was that the adolescents who chose the “My best friend” persona for their personal technology, selected “Provides an escape'” as their top descriptor for their self-relationship with technology (27/148, 18.2% chose this option). Wishing for personal technology to be “My best friend” and seeing technology as something which “Provides an escape” shows critical associations that need further in-depth explorations.

In summary, our study indicates that adolescents see both commonalities and variations in their own and others' relationship with technology. Their future aspirations for personal technology vary across age and gender. We will validate our preliminary findings in a follow-up study using a larger sample size.