Vol. 2, Issue 5, Part F (2016)
Pattern of smartphone use among MBBS students in an Indian Medical College
Pattern of smartphone use among MBBS students in an Indian Medical College
Author(s)
Abhishek Ghosh, Rajshree Jha, Surjeet Kumar Malakar
AbstractBackground: Smartphones nowadays have become a very important tool in daily life with multiple purposes including social networking, acquiring knowledge. But college students often misuse them due to over indulgence, which may affect their study performance and social life. Pattern of smartphone use among medical students of India are lacking.
Methods: Total 257 students of 1st, 2nd and 3rd Prof part 1 MBBS students of a medical college in west Bengal were given a questionnaire to assess the pattern of smartphone use after taking their consent and ensuring to keep their response confidential. The response to different questions were then assessed by percentage.
Results: Above 94% students possessed smartphone, some even possess two. Average daily use among them was 6 hours. Majority of them were using this mainly for social networking, followed by playing games, listening to music and for academic purpose. Majority of them regularly use smartphone at late night. Some felt lack of concentration during study hours due to urge for using phones very often. 1/3rd of users even felt that overuse of smartphones are degrading their academic performance, though 1/5th felt that smartphones are helpful in improving their academic performance.
Conclusion: Proper utilization of smartphones among medical students should be ensured to make these devices very useful tools for learning medicine. Large scale studies are required to assess the impact of smartphone use among medical students of other parts of India.
How to cite this article:
Abhishek Ghosh, Rajshree Jha, Surjeet Kumar Malakar. Pattern of smartphone use among MBBS students in an Indian Medical College. Int J Appl Res 2016;2(5):389-392.