Counselling in Education: A Case Study of a Female Undergraduate’s Student Recovery from Smartphone Addiction

Abstract

Smartphone addiction is a pervasive concern among children and youth, particularly among university and college students, leading to a myriad of issues encompassing psychological, social, physical health, and academic performance problems. This exploratory case study examines the narrative of a female undergraduate’s self-storytelling journey of smartphone addiction phase and her subsequent recovery phase, facilitated by a female educator who assumed the role of a counselor. Population involved a single female undergraduate university student who volunteered was selected through purposive sampling technique. In-depth semi-structured interview served as a data collection instrument. Further adopting a phenomenological approach, the researcher integrated narrative-thematic method for data analysis and interpretation. The study findings indicated that serving as a counselor a female educator utilizing simple counseling techniques and understanding with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) effectively facilitated a female undergraduate’s recovery from a smartphone-addiction and thus enabling her to lead a life free from smartphone addiction. It is recommended that a little understanding with counselling techniques and theories is required for educators in helping students to recover from smartphone addiction in their daily classroom settings.