Smartphone addiction and its associated behaviors among undergraduate dental students and interns

Objectives: In this generation, no one can live without a cell phone. It has become a necessity for the survival of human beings. Some use it smartly, while some use it so overzealously that they become predisposed to its addiction, which changes their behaviors and has an effect on their health too. Phone addiction, also referred to as “nomophobia” (the fear of not having a cell phone), is often brought on by an internet addiction scenario or overuse issue. Dependence on mobile phones is widespread among teenagers worldwide. Hence, the present study was carried out with the primary objective of evaluation of smartphone addiction and secondary objective with its associated behavior among dental undergraduate students. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 331 undergraduate dental students at a renowned dental college in Nagpur, Maharashtra. A pretested self-administered questionnaire of the mobile phone addiction scale was used for data collection. All the responses were collected and inserted into an Excel sheet. Results: Among 331 participants; 47 were male students and 284 were female students. A total of 20 questions were analyzed, and statistically significant differences were observed in nine of them. These significant questions include impulsively checking notifications while studying ( P = 0.010), using the phone in class ( P = 0.002), preferring online over real-life interactions ( P < 0.001), feeling the need to reduce phone use ( P = 0.004), reacting angrily when asked to reduce usage ( P = 0.011), using the phone in dangerous situations ( P = 0.017), missing planned work ( P = 0.012), constantly thinking about the phone ( P = 0.002), and continuing use despite negative effects ( P = 0.026). Conclusion: The present study shows a moderate frequency of smartphone addiction and its related behaviors among dental students. Students are sensitive to problematic usage habits of Smartphone use but at the same the time, there are few students who tend to reduce their mobile phone usage habit.