The Impact of Smartphone Usage on the Academic Performance of High School Students in Kandahar City

The increasing use of smartphones among students has raised concerns and opportunities regarding their impact on academic performance. The aim of this study was to determine the pattern of smartphone use and the correlation between the use of smartphone and academic performance of high school students in Kandahar city. A quantitative cross-sectional correlational design was used to collect data through a structured questionnaire from 376 students across public and private schools. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to select students. The descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis in IBM SPSS version 26. The results showed that almost all students owned and regularly used smartphones, with substantial variation in frequency and purpose of use. Descriptive results showed that students predominantly using smartphones for academic purposes performed better than those, who use them for non-academic purposes. However, the inferential tests gave mixed results: The chi-square test found a significant association between the academic performance and the daily usage of the smartphone. One-way ANOVA test showed no significant difference in academic focus by usage types. Students also reported some considerable academic benefits of the smartphones, such as reviewing lectures, accessing learning resources and improving understanding, but also pointed to moderately negative results, mainly loss of study time and distraction by non-academic content. The results demonstrate that smartphones have dual nature: they can be educational resources and distractors. The study highlights the importance of implementing balanced smartphone policies and emphasizes parental and teacher guidance to encourage productive use of smartphones among students.