Self-Reported - Problematic Smartphone Usage: A Cross Sectional Study

ABSTRACT

Introduction: The number of smartphone users in India isshowing a rapidly increasing trend in the last few years. Theexpected user base is nearly one in three by 2021 in India.The evidence on compulsive smartphone use is growingmaking it an addiction along with raising concerns on othermental health issues. The current study aimed to find out theextent of problematic smart phone usage and various variablesassociated with smart phone addiction in the study population.Material and methods: A cross-sectional study wasconducted on 186 participants. Responses were recordedonline through a questionnaire on SAS-SV and analyzed bydescriptive statistics.Results: Study showed 24.2% (45 participants) of studypopulation have smart phone addiction. Male gender, earlyexposure to smart phone, low income, and residence in a citypredicted problematic smart phone usage.Conclusion: People across ages, residence, occupation, andsocial strata are involved with smart phone with one in fourbeing problematic smart phone users.