**5. Conclusions**

Based on the above, it can be concluded that on the one hand, women in general, and in particular the Spanish women who studied within the macro area of Social Sciences, were the ones who had a problematic use of the mobile phone as compared to the men in both countries, showing the same factors as a pharmacological addiction. On the other hand, the students who resided in Colombia utilized the smartphone as a means of escape from boredom. These same students are aware of the consequences of the excessive use of the device on their personal and academic life. Also, the younger Spanish students had symptomatic signs of the FOMO syndrome. Along this line, in both countries, the students who showed these signs were enrolled in the area of Social Sciences. With respect to the Experimental Sciences and Engineering and Architecture students, these recognized spending too many hours being preoccupied with the phone. It should be pointed out that in the macro areas of Arts and Humanities, and Engineering and Architecture, their students were aware of the negative consequences of its use on their personal and academic lives.

Ultimately, it should be indicated, specifically for the differences found according to age and the country of origin, that the younger students, independently of the country, had a problematic use of smartphones and that Colombian students were closer to the general model, while for the Spanish ones, the order of relevance of each of the factors varied, while the general model does not fit the age or sex of the students.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualización, V.M.-D.; curación de datos, J.M.M.-G. and B.-E.S.-R.; investigación, J.M.M.-G. and B.-E.S.-R.; metodología, J.M.M.-G. and B.-E.S.-R.; administración de proyecto, V.M.-D.; supervisión, V.M.-D. and B.-E.S.-R.; redacción-borrador original, V.M.-D. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research received no external funding.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**


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International Journal of *Environmental Research and Public Health*
