Publication:

Rising concern of nomophobia amongst Indian medical students

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.