Pattern of Smart Phone and Internet Usage among Medical Students in Surat, Gujarat - A Cross Sectional Study

• Main Authors: Rahul B Damor (Author), Sukesha P Gamit (Author), Anjali Modi (Author), Jayant Patel (Author), J K Kosambiya (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Medsci Publications, 2018-07-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 0976-3325; 2229-6816
• Keywords: Internet addiction; medical student; smart phone; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270
• Source: National Journal of Community Medicine, Vol 9, Iss 07 (2018)

Background: Advent of mobile and internet has been most impor- tant technological advancement of the century. About 60 percent of internet users in India access internet via their smart phones. Objective: To study the pattern of smart phone, internet usage, its perception and addiction among medical students. Methods: Cross-sectional study, conducted among medical stu- dents of Government Medical College, Surat. A semi-structured proforma along with Young's Internet Addiction scale was used. Results: Of 313 participants, 51.4% were male & 48.6% were fe- male. Majority of them were using smart phone. Majority were us- ing internet on smart phone. Social networking (65.2 %) was the most common purpose, 53.7 % using internet for 1 to 3 hours daily. About (48.6 %) felt addicted to internet. Porn was watched by 34.8 % on mobile; while 11.2 % feels addicted to watching porn material. According to Young's Internet Addiction scale, 59.1 % average online users, 23.3 % less than average online users, 17.3 % possible addict and 0.3 % addicted to internet. Conclusion: Although some participants were using smartphone for academic literature search, majority were using it for social networking. About half of the participants felt addicted to internet.