Addicted to IT: Perspectives from Educational Users – Unintended Consequences?

This paper examines the unintended consequences of accelerated digitalisation in higher education after COVID-19 but before the rapid expansion of generative AI. We extend the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to investigate whether university students show indicators of problematic technology use or digital dependency, and whether their responses differ between mandatory institutional systems and voluntary personal technologies. Survey data were analysed using principal component analysis and structural equation modelling. Students reported stronger emotional attachment to, and more frequent engagement with, personal technologies, particularly smartphones, than with institutional systems such as virtual learning environments and university email. Although the data contained behavioural indicators of dependency, the SEM path from influence factors to behaviour was not statistically significant (p = .510). We treat this result as a theoretical contribution: persuasive or ostensibly addictive design features do not, by themselves, determine behaviour.