Technology Addiction and Associated Health Problems among Medical Students in Kalaburagi District

• Main Authors: Basavakumar S Anandi (Author), Ajaykumar Gududur (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Medsci Publications, 2018-04-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 0976-3325; 2229-6816
• Keywords: Technology; addiction; dependency; gadgets; youth; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270
• Source: National Journal of Community Medicine, Vol 9, Iss 04 (2018)

Introduction: Over the past decade, society has witnessed massive changes with media and technology playing a major role in the ways we work and live. Advancements in digital technologies have resulted in various positive applications. However, research has shown a number of negative consequences as well; such as depression, anxiety, or damage to relationships etc. Thus this study was designed to estimate; 1) Prevalence of technology addiction & dependency on them and 2) To find the associated health problems among those addicted. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 102 under-graduate medical students of Gulbarga Institute of medical sciences, Kalaburagi. A structured e-questionnaire designed with Google forms was deployed to collect data. Study was undertaken for two months from Dec 2017 to Jan 2018. Results: Over 60 % of the study subjects spent more than 7 hour/day with some technological devices and 49 % of the subjects showed high degree of dependency on technology. Among addicted subjects feeling anxious/nervous was the commonest symptom reported; followed by feeling sad/depressed. Conclusions: Prevalence of technology addiction was high among medical students and subjects engaged for more than 7 hours/day with technological devices, reported health problems in higher proportion.