Smartphone Addiction and Quality of Sleep among Indian Medical Students

Abstract

Background: Smartphone is an indispensable miracle of artificial intelligence in the hands of global netizens. Medical students overburdened and sleep-deprived due to the curricular demands can have serious health effects due to further sleep deprivation caused by problematic smartphone use, affecting their work proficiency as practicing physicians. This study aimed to evaluate the association of smartphone addiction and quality of sleep among medical students across all semesters, along with other background variables.

Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 224 medical students of a tertiary care teaching hospital in North India using a self-administered questionnaire with four parts –Socio-demographic characteristics, General health questionnaire (GHQ-12), Smartphone addiction scale-short version (SAS-SV), and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI).

Results: The prevalence of smartphone addiction is was found out to be 33.33% in females and 46.15% in males. In the study, 63.39% were poor sleepers as assessed by their PQSI scores, and 62.05% reported poor health status as per their GHQ scores. There was a positive correlation between overall PQSI scores and smartphone use duration per day, SAS-SV scores, and GHQ scores.

Conclusion: The high prevalence of excessive smartphone usage among medical students is a cause for concern and is detrimental to their health and sleep quality. The research addresses current lacunae in correlating smartphone addiction with smartphone usage before sleeping and right after waking up. Risky behavior adoption and pervasive mood changes associated with excessive smartphone use are addressed with equal representation across semesters. The study recommends increasing self-awareness for help-seeking to regulate smartphone usage and providing counseling services for students in their formative years.

AUTHORS’ CONTRIBUTION

Both the authors collected data, analysis of the data, writing and editing of the manuscript.

ETHICAL APPROVAL

The data collection team of investigators had ensured the confidentiality of the participants. We had followed the “Declaration of Helsinki”– ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

INFORMED CONSENT

All participants provided informed consent online.

Additional information

Funding

The research was funded by an intramural grant from the University Research Cell of King George’s Medical University, Lucknow, U.P., India (as undergraduate medical student research grant).