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Nomophobia in the students of a medical college using smartphones: A cross-sectional study
Epari Ravi Kiran1, Karri Vijaya2, Mangu Rama Ashwini1
1 Department of Community Medicine, Gayatri Vidya Parishad Institute of Health Care and Medical Technology, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India
2 Department of Community Medicine, NRI Institute of Medical Sciences, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India
Correspondence Address:
Epari Ravi Kiran,
Department of Community Medicine, Gayatri Vidya Parishad Institute of Health Care and Medical Technology, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None DOI: 10.4103/mjhs.mjhs_87_22
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Background: Mobile Information and Communication Technologies have led to the rise in dependence on smartphones worldwide and nomophobia (NMP) which is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact.
Objectives: The objectives of the study were to assess smartphones usage among the medical students, to estimate the prevalence of NMP, it's gradation and it's association of different variables with grade of NMP.
Methods: A community-based, analytical cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students selected by the systematic random sampling technique. A questionnaire comprising smartphone ownership/usage variables and questions on NMP Questionnaire was used.
Results: Female students (70.9%) were more compared to males (29.1%). Majority (44.7%) were in the age group of 19–20 years. 52.4% of them had received ≤3 E-mails/day. 56.4% of them had installed ≤20 apps in their smart phones in their smartphones. Sixty-eight percent of them had installed ≤3 newer apps in last month. The prevalence of NMP was found to be 100% with the maximum (63.1%) having moderate grade of NMP. It was found that the associations of the community, possession of smartphone, average monthly mobile phone bill including internet usage, and number of E-mails sent per day with the difference in the grade of NMP were found to be statistically significant, (P = 0.04), (P = 0.04), (P = 0.01), and (P = 0.04), respectively.
Conclusions: The high prevalence of NMP can be attributed to the use of smartphones for online classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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