Rising concern of nomophobia amongst Indian medical students

Abstract

Background: Aims and objectives of current study were to assess the pattern of mobile phone usage and prevalence of nomophobia amongst third year medical students in north India. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted amongst 130 medical students of third year MBBS of Sri Aurobindo institute of medical sciences, Indore. A pre-formed pre-tested questionnaire was used. Data were analyzed statistically by simple proportions. Results: Response rate was 90.76%. Female preponderance (65 females out of 118 respondents) was seen in our study. Most of the students were in the age group of 22-24 years. All of them were having possession of at least one mobile phone with activated internet services in 87% of students. 34% were having two mobile phones, while 4% had more than two mobiles. 61% students had to recharge the internet services once a month, 28% twice a month, while 11% students had to recharge it more than three times a month. 73% of students were nomophobics. 21% of nomophobics experienced rinxiety. 83% of students experienced panic attacks when their mobile phone was misplaced. Headache and lethargy were the commonest side effects that were experienced by 61% of students. Conclusion: Our study gives a brief idea about the woeful outcomes of nomophobia. There is a definite need of further studies in this field.