Pattern of usage of Mobile Phone and its Health Effects Among Medical Students

In today’s world, mobile phones seem to be an indispensable tool for communication, as it connects everyone and everything by providing various platforms. While technologies do have a positive impact, yet they have certain startling undesirable health effects. The purpose of study was to figure out how medical students use their mobile phones and how it affects their health.

The online questionnaire based cross-sectional study was carried out among 392 medical students. The data was collected by using questionnaire through Google form, tabulated and analyzed for frequencies and percentage.

98.9% participants used smart phone, 65.1% used mobile for ≥ 5 hours daily, maximum being in evening and night hours, 80.6% did not switch off their mobile phones while sleeping, 55.1% checked their phones immediately on waking up, 33.2% had habit of checking mobile for messages and missed calls in midnight and 58.8% keep their mobile at table near bed while sleeping. 97.9% students used mobile phones for academic purpose and 45.7% participants found mobile phones to be beneficial for their academic purpose whereas 54.3% considered it to be a hindrance and distraction. 80.1% students faced health effects from the usage of mobile phones. Eye strain (99.4%), irritation without phone (91.4%), headache (86.3%) and ring anxiety (82.5%) were common health effects reported by students. Statistically significant association was found between eyestrain, headache and irritation without phone with usage of mobile phone for ≥ 5 hours a day.

Even if mobile phones have a good impact on our daily lives, their excessive use has adverse effects on students’ health. Hence, the students should be made aware about the health risks because of excessive use of mobile phones.