A study to evaluate pattern and purpose of smartphone usage and its dependence among medical students of government medical college in northern India
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47203/IJCH.2022.v34i01.008Keywords:
Smart Phone Usage, Dependence, Medical StudentsAbstract
Background: Smartphone usage has become increasingly popular in recent decade. Though it’s of great utility in many aspects, excessive usage among youth has shown increased restlessness, careless lifestyles and greater susceptibility to stress. Aim & Objective: To assess the pattern and purpose of smartphone usage and its dependence among medical students. Methods & Material: A cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted among 363 MBBS students of 1st, IInd and IIIrd professional year between October 2018 to December 2018 at a government medical college. A 20-item self-administrated questionnaire, focusing on purpose and pattern of use of smart phone and its dependence was filled by all the students. Data was collected, entered and analysed using SPSS Software. Result: Among 363 students, 53% participants were males and rest were females. 80% students were using smartphone for more than 2 years, while 60% were having daily usage of more than 3 hours. Significant association between severity of smartphone dependence and variables like MBBS professional year, daily phone call made and received, daily SMS received, daily WhatsApp message sent and received were observed. Dependence was mild in 8.8% of the students; Moderate in 72.2% while 19% were suffering from severe smartphone dependence. Conclusion: Smart phone dependence is an established and emerging psychological issue which needs attention and intervention. It is of serious concern that all medical students were suffering from smartphone dependence with varying grades of severity. Increased awareness regarding the harmful effects of smartphone addiction is the need of hour.
Downloads
References
Zheng P, Ni L. Smart phone and next generation mobile computing. Elsevier; 2010. eBook ISBN: 9780080458342. Available from: https://www.elsevier.com/books/smart-phone-and-next-generation-mobile-computing/zheng/978-0-12-088560-2.
https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-012088560-2/50003-4
Balakrishnan V, Raj RG. Exploring the relationship between urbanized Malaysian youth and their mobile phones: A quantitative approach.Telematics and Informatics. 2012 Aug 1;29(3):263-72.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2011.11.001
World Bank. Information, Communication Technologies, infoDev (Program). Information and Communications for development 2012: Maximizing mobile. World Bank Publications; 2012 Aug 15.
https://doi.org/10.1596/978-0-8213-8991-1
Wireless Phone Reliance Grows. (2001). TWICE, 16(26), 12. Available from: https://www.ril.com/getattachment/299caec5-2e8a-43b7-8f70-d633a150d07e/AnnualReport_2019-20.aspx
Statista. 2022. India: smartphone penetration rate 2040 | Statista. [online] Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/257048/ smartphone-user-penetration-in-india [Accessed 25 03 2022].
Alosaimi FD, Alyahya H, Alshahwan H, Al Mahyijari N, Shaik SA. Smartphone addiction among university students in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Saudi medical journal. 2016 Jun;37(6):675
https://doi.org/10.15537/smj.2016.6.14430
Mail D.Nomophobia is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact-and it's the plague of our 24/7 age. Available from: http:// www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-550610. [Last accessed on 2018 Dec 28].
Khan MM.Adverse effects of excessive mobile phone use. International journal of occupational medicine and environmental health. 2008 Oct 1;21(4):289.
https://doi.org/10.2478/v10001-008-0028-6
Walsh SP, White KM, Young RM. Over-connected? Aqualitative exploration of the relationship between Australian youth and their mobile phones. Journal of adolescence. 2008 Feb 1;31(1):77-92.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2007.04.004
Jamson AM, Strayer DL, Drews FA. Profiles in Driver Distraction: Effects of Cell Phone Conversations on Younger and Older Drivers. Human factors. 2004;46(4).
https://doi.org/10.1518/hfes.46.4.640.56806
Ebesu Hubbard A, Han HL, Kim W, Nakamura L. Analysis of Mobile Phone Interruptions in Dating Relationships: A Face Threatening Act. In57th Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association. Retrieved 2007;21:2009.
Ling R. Adolescent girls and young adult men: Two sub-cultures of the mobile telephone. Revista de Estudios de juventud. 2002;52(3):33-46.
Baron NS. Always on: Languagein an onlineand mobile world.Oxford University Press; 2010 Mar 3.
Yildirim C, Correia AP. Exploring the dimensions of nomophobia: Development and validation of a self-reported questionnaire. Computers in Human Behavior. 2015 Aug 1;49:130-7.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.059
Hooper V, Zhou Y. Addictive, dependent, compulsive? A study of mobile phone usage. Bled 2007 Proceedings. 2007:1:38.
Church K, De Oliveira R. What's up with WhatsApp? Comparing mobile instant messaging behaviors with traditional SMS. In proceedings of the 15th international conference on Human-computer interaction with mobile devices and services 2013 Aug 27 (pp. 352-361).
https://doi.org/10.1145/2493190.2493225
Lobet-Maris C, Henin J. Talking without communicating or communicating without talking: From the GSM to the SMS. Estudios de Juventud. 2002;57:101-14.
Bartwal J, Nath B. Evaluation of nomophobia among medical students using smartphone in north India. Medical Journal Armed Forces India. 2020;76(4):451-5.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mjafi.2019.03.001
Subba SH, Mandelia C, Pathak V, Reddy D, Goel A, Tayal A, Nair S, Nagaraj K. Ringxiety and the mobile phone usage pattern among the students of a medical college in South India. Journal of clinical and diagnostic research: JCDR. 2013 Feb;7(2):205.
https://doi.org/10.7860/jcdr/2013/4652.2729
Gupta N, Garg S, Arora K. Pattern of mobile phone usage and its effects on psychological health, sleep, and academic performance in students of a medical university. National Journal of Physiology, Pharmacy and Pharmacology. 2016;6(2):132-9.
https://doi.org/10.5455/njppp.2016.6.0311201599
LaPorta LD. Cellular Telephones: A New Addiction?. Psychiatric Times. 2006 Oct 1;23(11):64.
Kanmani A, Bhavani U, Maragatham RS. Nomophobia–An insight into its psychological aspects in India. The International Journal of Indian Psychology. 2017;4(2):5-15.
https://doi.org/10.25215/0402.041
Dasgupta P, Bhattacherjee S, Dasgupta S, Roy JK, Mukherjee A, Biswas R. Nomophobic behaviors among smartphone using medical and engineering students in two colleges of West Bengal. Indian Journal of Public Health. 2017 Jul 1;61(3):199.
https://doi.org/10.4103/ijph.ijph_81_16
Yildirim C, Sumuer E, Adnan M, Yildirim S. A growing fear: Prevalence of nomophobia among Turkish college students. Information Development. 2016 Nov;32(5):1322-31.
https://doi.org/10.1177/0266666915599025
Auckerman W. Survey shows cell phone secrets of Japanese youth. Internetnews. com. 2001 Jan.
Massimini M, Peterson M. Information and communication technology: Affects on US college students. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace. 2009;3(1).
Brown FC, Buboltz Jr WC, Soper B. Relationship of sleep hygiene awareness, sleep hygiene practices, and sleep quality in university students. Behavioral medicine. 2002 Jan 1;28(1):33-8.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Indian Journal of Community Health
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
