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Pattern of mobile phone usage among medical students

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 Original Article

Pattern of mobile phone usage among medical students

Neha Sharma, Uma Advani, Lokendra Sharma, Monika Jain, Kopal Sharma, Anand Mohan Dixit1
Department of Pharmacology, SMS Medical College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, 1Department of Community Medicine, U.P. University of Medical
Sciences, Etawah, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract Aims and Objectives: The aim is to study the pattern of mobile phone usage among medical students.
Materials and Methods: A cross‑sectional study was conducted among medical students of 2nd year MBBS
at SMS Medical College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. A preformed, pretested questionnaire was used. Data were
analyzed statistically by simple proportions.
Results: The response rate was 92.13%. Of 164 students, 96 were male and 68 were female. The mean age
of students was 20.04 ± 0.67. Almost 100% of respondents had smartphones. Nearly 48% of students had
downloaded medical apps on their mobile phones. The most common age group of starting internet use
among the respondents was 11–20 years. Daily use of the internet was 3–6 h/day by most of the medical
students. Most of the students used mobile phones for the purpose of social networking (n = 76) followed
by online shopping (n = 56). About 32.92% of students used mobile for academic purpose. Nearly 59.75%
of students obtained 41%–60% of marks in spite of extensively using smartphones which shows that they
are rationally using their phones in improving their academic performance. The association between time
in hours spent on mobile phones and marks obtained in the examination held in the past 3 months was
statistically nonsignificant (2 = 10.369, degree of freedom = 9, P = 0.321). About 57.29% of students were
suffering from nomophobia (NMP), 26.82% of students were at risk of NMP, and only 13.20% of students
were having no NMP. Nearly 58.53% of students had ringxiety.
Conclusion: Our study gives a brief idea about the addiction of mobile phones among medical students.
There is a definite need of further studies in this field.
The following core competencies are addressed in this article: Practice‑based learning and improvement,
Medical knowledge, Interpersonal and communication skills, Professionalism.

Keywords: Medical students, mobile phones, nomophobia, ringxiety

Address for correspondence:

Dr. Uma Advani, Department of Pharmacology, SMS Medical College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India.
E‑mail: drupadvani@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION portable computer as it has almost all the other features

of personal digital assistance such as browsing on the
The use of mobile phone has become an integral part internet, E‑mail access, desktop synchronization, as
of life. Recently, its use has increased considerably in
the past two decades.[1] Smartphone has emerged as a This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution‑NonCommercial‑ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak,
Access this article online and build upon the work non‑commercially, as long as the author is credited and the
new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
Quick Response Code:
Website: For reprints contact: reprints@medknow.com
www.ijam‑web.org

How to cite this article: Sharma N, Advani U, Sharma L, Jain M, Sharma K,

DOI: Dixit AM. Pattern of mobile phone usage among medical students. Int J Acad
Med 2019;5:118-23.
10.4103/IJAM.IJAM_61_18
Submission: 19-12-2018, Revision: 05-03-2019, Acceptance: 15-03-2019

118 © 2019 International Journal of Academic Medicine | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow
 Sharma, et al.: Pattern of mobile phone use among medical students

well as third‑party applications, commonly referred to MATERIALS AND METHODS

as “apps.” The use of mobile phone is an important
tool among health‑care professionals.[2] This is an anonymous, questionnaire‑based
descriptive cross‑sectional study. This study was
Mobile phones have great potential in the field of conducted in the Department of Pharmacology
medical education if used rationally.[3] after taking permission from the Ethics Committee
of SMS Medical College, Jaipur (Order No.: 3931
Sharma et al. 2015 highlighted in their study that the MC/EC/2017). The 2nd year MBBS students were
rising use of mobile phones is adversely affecting the included in the study after taking their consent.
daily activities as well as studies of medical students. A self‑developed, semi‑structured questionnaire,
The literal meaning of “Nomophobia (NMP)” is “No based on previous studies were  prepared.[4,8] Part A
mobile phobia” or “the fear of being out of mobile of questionnaire included sociodemographic profile
phone contact.”[4] of the participant, while part B included 12 questions
out of which five questions were framed to assess
Excessive use of smartphones can also be termed as NMP and to assess subjective symptoms because of
“addiction.” The continuous use of something for mobile phone usage.
the sake of relief, comfort, or stimulation, which
often causes cravings when it is absent, is defined The same semester students who willingly participated
as addiction by the WHO. Addiction is categorized in the study and filled the informed consent form were
broadly into two major categories: substance addiction included in the study.
and behavioral addiction. Addiction of mobile phones
comes under the behavioral type of addiction.[5] Students who did not have a smartphone or
downloaded applications in the phone were excluded
Although on one side, phones have made the life of from the study. Confidentiality of data was maintained.
young generation more comfortable, convenient, We explained the objectives of the study to the 2nd‑year
and safer, on the other side, excessive use of mobile MBBS students who voluntarily gave their consent to
phone has led to their poor perceived health which participate in the study. The prevalidated questionnaire
includes tiredness, stress, headaches, and difficulty in was distributed among the participants and was
concentration which definitely affect their academic recollected on the same day. Incompletely filled forms
performance.[6,7] were excluded from the study.

When we talk about NMP statistics, in the UK, Statistical analysis

66% of people are afraid of either losing or The survey was descriptive and after completion of data
being separated from their phones, while 41% of collection, it was reviewed, organized and data were
people own ≥1 phone .[4,8] While according to a summarized as counts and percentages, and evaluated
meta‑analysis, the addiction of smartphone usage in using the Chi‑square test, and P < 0.05 was considered
India ranged from 39% to 44% as per fixed effects statistically significant. Some of the questions had
calculated (P < 0.0001).[5] multiple options to choose from therefore the sum
total of percentage is not always 100%. Data were
Low‑energy electromagnetic radiations is received analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social
by the mobile phone user and may cause structural Sciences) software, version 16.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago,
and functional cellular changes within the central IL, USA). This is a cross‑sectional study and purposive
nervous system as well as the auditory system.[4] There sampling adopted for selection of participant, hence,
is a lacuna of research work in this field; hence, we there is no need to use power.
decided to carry out our study to see the impact of
mobile phones on medical students of our college. RESULTS

Objectives The questionnaire was distributed among 178 2nd year

The objective was to study the pattern of mobile medical students in the lecture theater of SMS
phone usage and prevalence of addiction of mobile Medical College, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. Fourteen
phone (NMP) among medical  students. (Hypothesis incompletely filled questionnaires were excluded
Research question: What is the pattern of mobile use from the study. We could recollect 164 completely
among medical student?). filled questionnaires. The response rate was 92.13%.
International Journal of Academic Medicine |Volume 5 | Issue 2 | May-August 2019 119
 Sharma, et al.: Pattern of mobile phone use among medical students

Of 164 students, 96 were male and 68 were female. Daily use of the internet was 3–6 h/day by most of
The mean age of students was 20.04 ± 0.67. Other the medical students (n = 123) followed by <2 h
demographic data of the students are depicted in (20 students). Thirteen students used mobile for
Table 1. 7–10 h but the maximum use of internet >10 h/day
was done by eight students.
Almost 100% of respondents had smartphones. One
hundred and forty‑one students owned a single mobile Most of the students used mobile phones for the
phone. Only 23 had two mobile phones. All students purpose of social networking (n = 76) followed by
had internet on their mobile phones. One hundred online shopping (n = 56). About 32.92% of students
and fifty‑three students recharged their mobiles used mobile for academic  purpose. We were very
monthly, whereas six students twice a month, and surprised to see the changing trend of shopping and
only five students had to recharge thrice a month. not only females, but male respondents also used phone
Seventy‑nine students had downloaded medical apps for online shopping. The main purpose of the mobile
on their mobile phones. phone usage by respondents is as depicted in Figure 2.

The most common age group of starting internet The maximum use of internet on mobile was found at
use among respondents was 11–20 years (156 night time (n = 98), followed by evening (n = 32),
students) followed by 21–30 years (5 students). Only afternoon (n = 22), and minimum use in the
three students started using smartphones at the age morning (n = 12).
of <10 years as shown in Figure 1.
Majority 40.85% of medical students preferred to keep
Table 1: Sociodemographic characteristics of the study their mobile phones on silent mode, while 35.82% of
participants students kept their phones on ringing and 20.12% on
Sociodemographic Characteristic group Number of vibration mode. Only 9.75% of students were dare to
parameters respondents (%)
detach themselves from mobiles by switching them
Age 19‑20 129 (78.65)
21‑22 30 (12.19) off during the study hours.
23‑24 5 (3.04)
Sex Male 96 (58.53) One hundred and thirteen students operated mobile
Female 68 (41.46)
Education of father Illiterate 12 (7.31) phones at home or hostel while eating foods or when
Up to 12th 24 (14.63) relaxing. 30 students used their phones in the library
Graduation 68 (41.46) and 11 students operated their phones while driving.
Postgraduation 60 (36.58)
Socioeconomic Lower middle class 47 (28.65) Only 10 students confessed that they used their phones
status Middle class 36 (17.07) even during attending lectures in the classrooms.
Upper middle class 81 (49.39)
Employment of Working 156 (95.12)
father Not working 8 (4.87)
Most of the students (n = 98) obtained 41%–60% of
Status of living Living in nuclear family 69 (42.07) marks in spite of extensively using smartphones which
Living in joint family 39 (23.78) shows that they are rationally using their phones in
Living in hostel 56 (34.14)
Locality Urban 86 (52.43) improving their academic performance. When we
Rural 78 (47.56) applied nonparametric statistical tests (Chi‑square test)

Figure 1: Depicting age of starting internet use on smartphones Figure 2: Main purpose of mobile phone usage

120 International Journal of Academic Medicine |Volume 5 | Issue 2 | May-August 2019

 Sharma, et al.: Pattern of mobile phone use among medical students

and calculated P value to see an association between response rate in our study was quite good because
time in hours spent on mobile phones and marks the questionnaire was distributed directly to the
obtained in the examination held in the past 3 months, students in person rather than E‑mailing them.
we found that it was not statistically significant as E‑mailing of questionnaire or WhatsApp is used
P > 0.05, as shown in Table 2. very frequently for these types of studies which
affects response rate as well as results also. Sharma
Apart from internet addiction, 76 respondents et al. 2015[4] have also reported a good response
confessed that they had other addiction also. There rate of 90.76%.
was no incidence of self‑injurious behavior or suicidal
thoughts among respondents. In our study, we found male preponderance which
is in contradiction to a study conducted by Prasad
NMP was assessed among respondents as per et al. 2017[9] and Farooqui et al. 2018[13] and a few
elaborated in previous studies[4,8‑10] and we found that other studies.[4,14,15] Male preponderance was also
57.29% students were suffering from NMP, 26.82% documented by a study done in Central India with
of students were at risk of NMP, and only 13.20% 53% of males and 47% of females.[8]
of students were having no NMP. When we saw the
gender‑based prevalence of NMP then it was found Gavali et al. 2017[12] documented in their study that
to be nonsignificant (P > 0.05) as shown in Table 3. 80% of medical students used downloaded medical
applications on their mobile phones to aid learning.
About 57.92% of students panicked when they Moreover, in our case, only 48% (n = 79) of students
misplaced their cellphone, 22.56% became desperate had downloaded medical applications. While in a
for their phones, while 18.29% of students were study done in Indore, only 19% of medical students
relieved. Majority of students used to check their used medical apps.[4]
mobile phones as soon they wake up in the morning.
Most of the respondents cited that they used to check Prasad et al. 2017[9] and Aman et al. 2015[16] found
their phones for messages and other updates every in their study that if students spend more time
30 min. Some respondents used to check it a couple on phone, they score low marks in professional
of times a day. This shows their desperation as well examinations. In contrary to this, we found that
as obsession about their smartphones. About 59% of there is no statistically significant association
students used to keep their mobile phones beside their between time spent on mobile phones and marks
bed. 58.53% of students had “ringxiety.” obtained in the recent examination (P > 0.05).
Similar results were documented in previous
DISCUSSION literature by Ezemenaka in 2013 that there is no
significant relationship affecting the academic
The response rate in our study was 92.13% which performance of students in using internet enabled
is higher than other Indian studies. [11,12] The phones.[17]
Table 2: Association between time in hours spent on mobile
We found that 57.29% of students were suffering
phones and marks obtained in examination held in the past
3 months from NMP and 26.82% students were at risk of NMP
Time in hours spent Marks obtained in last examination which is quite greater that a study done in 2017 by
on mobile phones (h) <40% 41%‑50% 51%‑60% >60% Total Prasad et al., which showed 24.12% of prevalence of
<2 0 6 13 3 22 NMP and 40.97% of prevalence of having a risk of
3‑4 2 16 88 14 120 being nomophobes.[9]
5‑6 0 2 11 1 14
>6 1 2 5 0 8
Total 3 26 117 18 164 Basu et al. 2018[18] reported 40% of the participants
Chi‑square test=10.369, df=9, P=0.321. df=Degree of freedom with NMP from Delhi, and Dasgupta et al. 2017 from

Table 3: Gender‑based prevalence of nomophobia

Gender Nomophobia At risk of nomophobia No‑nomophobia Chi‑square test value at 2 df P
Male 57 31 8 3.57 >0.05
Female 49 13 6
Total 106 44 14
df=Degree of freedom

International Journal of Academic Medicine |Volume 5 | Issue 2 | May-August 2019 121

 Sharma, et al.: Pattern of mobile phone use among medical students

Kolkata[19] reported NMP in 42.6% medical students Financial support and sponsorship
assessed with the NMP‑Q questionnaire. Nil.

While Dixit et al., in 2010 documented only 18.5% of Conflicts of interest

nomophobes in their study.[8] Even higher degree of There are no conflicts of interest.
NMP was reported by Sharma et al. 2015[4] in which
Ethical conduct of research
73% of students accepted that they were actually
Permission from the Ethics Committee of SMS Medical
nomophobics.
College, Jaipur (Order No.: 3931 MC/EC/2017) was
In addition to this, we could see statistically obtained before commencement of the study and the
nonsignificant gender‑based difference among study participants who willingly gave their consent
nomophobics which is in contradiction to results were included in the study. Applicable EQUATOR
documented by Prasad et al. 2017. They could found Network (http://www.equator-network.org/)
a statistically significant difference on the usage of guidelines were followed.
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