Damor, Rahul B., Sukesha P. Gamit, Anjali Modi, Jayant Patel, and Jayesh Kosambiya.
Abstract
Background: Advent of mobile and internet has been most important 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 students 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 female. Majority of them were using smart phone. Majority were using 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.
Key words: Internet addiction, medical student, smart phone.
EXCERPT: About 62.7% of the boys and 5.2% of the girls watched porn material on their mobile. 21.7% boys were addicted to watch porn material on their mobile. About 12.4% boys and 1.9% girls stated that watching porn affects their study.
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