Prevalence of Nomophobia among the Undergraduate students

 

Aparajita Phukan Baruah, Bharati Singh

Assam Oil College of Nursing is affiliated to Srimanata Sankaradeva University of Health Sciences,

Guwahati, Assam, India.

*Corresponding Author E-mail:

 

ABSTRACT:

Smart phones today have become an important part of our techno culture, especially among the students. Overuses the mobile phone may cause various health effects. A study was conducted to assess the prevalence of Nomophobia among the undergraduate students of Tinsukia district with the objectives to assess the prevalence of Nomophobia among the undergraduate students and to find out the association between the nomophobia and socio demographic variable of the undergraduate students in selected colleges of Tinsukia district. Total 60 undergraduate students of age 18-25 years who have access to smart phone with internet connection of Tinsukia were selected through Non-probability snowball sampling techniques and data collected through online mode. The result of the study showed that out of 60 undergraduate students majority i.e. 18.33% were in the age of 19 and 22 years, 56.66% were female, 76.66% stays in their own resident, 41.66% were from Science, 31.66% were from Arts, 26.66% were from Commerce stream. 43.33% usage smart phone for 6-10hours, 23.33% usage smart phone for 11-15 hours, 30% usage smart phone for 4-5 hours, 3.33% usage smart phone for 16-20 hours. In level of Nomophobia 0% participants showed no Nomophobia, 0% participants showed no Mild Nomophobia, 6.66% participants showed Moderate Nomophobia, 93.33% participants showed no Severe Nomophobia. There was no association found between demographic variables and level of Nomophobia. Conclusion: The researcher came to the conclusion that Nomophobia is prevalent among the under graduate students.

 

KEYWORDS: Nomophobia, Smart phones, Techno, Culture, Students, Health effects.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Smart phones today have become an important part of our techno culture, especially among the students. Discomfort, anxiety, low self-esteem, nervousness, extrovert personality by being out of contact with a mobile phone. The burden of this problem is now increasing globally.

 

When a person overuses the mobile phone the various psychological factors are involved e.g. low self-esteem, extrovert personality. Other mental disorders like, social phobia or social anxiety, and panic disorder may also precipitate. This is termed as NOMOPHOBIC symptoms.1

 

Nomophobia promotes the development of mental disorders, personality disorders, as well as problems in people’s self-esteem, loneliness, and happiness, especially in the younger population. All of this has a great impact on health, which has negative repercussions on other aspects of life such as study and work.2 Due to these factors, it is considered a digital disease, whose risk factor of suffering is increased in the youth population, between 12 and 18 years old.2

 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic classrooms were closed all over the world and forced 1.5 billion students and 63 million educators to suddenly modify their face-to-face academic practices.3

 

Students to stay in the real world more than virtual world, we have to re-establish the human interaction, face to face connections. So, we need to limit our use of Mobile Phone rather than banning it because we cannot the free of technological advancement.3

 

Due to introduction of virtual classrooms and accessibility of smart phones, internet facility the knowledge sources turn out to be easy accessible for the students. Smart phones become the primary mode for online learning. Students become used to mobile phones to such extent that without smart phone they cannot think of learning and cannot perform necessary works. But students are unaware about the disadvantages and its impact on health.4

 

Nomophobia is an Emerging health Phenomenon of among young adults. A systematic review Study by Venetia Notara et al. elicited that Nomophobia is prevalent among 15.2%-99.7% among the young adult and these findings shows that excessive use of smart phones affects psychological, emotional, social, and physical health.5

 

Study by Shreya Sodhani, Priyanka Gupta, Mumbai, India on evaluation of mobile phone dependence among students of a medical teaching institute found that Mobile phone dependence is prevalent amongst medical students.6

 

Therefore the researchers of the present study sought to conduct a study to assess the prevalence of Nomophobia among the undergraduate students of Tinsukia district.

 

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

Objectives:

1.   To assess the prevalence of Nomophobia among the undergraduate students in selected colleges of Tinsukia district.

2.   To find out the association between the Nomophobia and social demographic variables of the undergraduate students in selected college of Tinsukia district.

 

Research Approach:

Quantitative research approach was used for this study.

 

Research Design:

Descriptive research design was used for this study.

 

Setting of the study:

The study was conducted through online mode among undergraduate students of Tinsukia, Assam.

 

Population:

Population selected for this study were undergraduate students of age 18-25 years of Tinsukia District, Assam.

 

Target population

Undergraduate students of Tinsukia District, Assam.

 

Sample Size: 60

 

Variables of the study:

Research Variables: Level of Nomophobia among undergraduate students of Tinsukia District.

Demographic variables: Age, gender, location of stay, stream of study, duration of Smartphone uses.

 

Criteria for sample selection

a)     Inclusion criteria :

1.     Students who are undergraduate

2.     Students who are between 18-25 years of age

3.     Students who are willing to participate in the study.

4.     Students who have access to smartphone with internet connection.

5.     Students who are from Tinsukia district.

 

b)    Exclusion criteria:

1.     Students who are absent during the data collection.

 

Sampling Technique:

Non- probability snowball sampling techniques was used in the study.

 

Description of the tool:

It consist of two section-

1. Section A: It contains data related to demographic variables of undergraduate students such as age in years,gender, and location of stay, area of study and duration of usage of smartphone.

 

2. Section B: It consists of standard Nomophobia questionnaire to assess the level of nomophobia among the undergraduate students of Tinsukia which includes 20 likert scale questions to assess level of nomophobia.

A commonly used instrument for assessing nomophobia is the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q). The NMP-Q is 20-item scale developed by Yildirim and Correia (2015) through a thorough procedure including qualitative and quantitative phases. The internal validity and reliability values, range from 0.78 to 0.92, are satisfactory. The research article by Hailtham Jahrami etal, on Internal consistency and structural validity of the nomophobia questionnaire (NMP-Q) and its translations: A systematic review with meta-analysis, showed that NMP-Q has an excellent internal consistency. 7,8 Therefore the researchers decided to use NMP-Q to collect data for this study to assess the prevalence of Nomophobia among the undergraduate students in selected colleges of Tinsukia District.

Scoring Procedure:

The NMP-Q has 20 questions, each scored on a 7-point Likert scale. Scoring was done on the basis of statement and level of respondents, agreement with statement. For a positive statement respondents get higher score, if there is agreement with statement. However, in case of negative statement, respondent gets higher score, if there is disagreement with statement or vice versa. 7,8

 

The likert scale scoring

Likert Scale

Score

1. Strongly disagree

1

2.Somewhat disagree

2

3. Disagree

3

4.Neutral

4

5.Agree

5

6.Somewhat agree

6

7.Strongly agree

7

               

The total score on the NMP-Q is 20 at its lowest (20 *1) or 140 (20*7) at its highest. The score were divided into:

 

Score

Interpretation

20

Absence of nomophobia

21-59

Mild level of nomophobia

60-99

Moderate level of nomophobia

100-140

Severe nomophobia

 

Data collection Procedure:

Phone numbers of the undergraduate students were collected by using snowball sampling techniques method. The standard Nomophobia questionnaire was send to the phone numbers collected through snowball technique. Filled standard Nomophobia questionnaire send back with filled data from 60 students checked and prepared for analysis. Collection of data via google form completed in seven days.

 

Data analysis:

The demographic variables were analyzed by using descriptive measures (frequency and percentage). The association between the level of nomophobia and the selected demographic variables were assessed by chi- square test.

 

RESULT:

Section-1.1: Data on demographic variables of undergraduate students of Tinsukia District.

 

Table 1.1: Frequency and percentage distribution of undergraduate students according to their age.

Sl No.

Demographic variable

Frequency (f)

Percentage (%)

1

Age in years

a)       18 years

b)      19 years

c)       20years

d)      21years

e)       22years

f)       23 years

g)      24 years

h)      25 years

 

5

11

8

12

11

8

3

2

 

8.33%

18.33%

13.33%

20%

18.33%

13.33%

5%

3.33%

The Table 1.1 depict that out of 60 undergraduate students majority i.e. 12 (20%) are of 21 years, 11 (18.33%) were in the age of 19 and 22 years, 8(13.33%) were in the age 20 and 23, 5 (8.33%) were in the age of 18 years, 3 (5%) were in the age 24 years, 2(3.33%) were in the age of 25years.

 

Table-1.2: Frequency and percentage distribution of undergraduate students according to their Gender.

Sl No.

Demographic variable

Frequency

(f)

Percentage (%)

2

Gender

a)     Male

b)    Female

c)     Others

 

26

34

0

 

43.33%

56.66%

0

 

The Table 1.2 depicts that out of 60 undergraduate students majority of the students i.e. 34 (56.66%) were female, 24 (46.33%) were male and 0 others.

 

Table-1.3: Frequency and percentage distribution of undergraduate students according to their location of stay.

Sl. no.

Demographic variable

Frequency(f)

Percentage (%)

3

Location of stay

a)   Own resident

b)  Hostel campus

 

46

14

 

76.66%

23.33%

 

The Table 1.3 depicts that out of 60 undergraduate students majority of the students i.e. 46(76.66%) stays in their own residence and 24(23.33%) stays in the hostel campus.

 

Table-1.4: Frequency and percentage distribution of undergraduate students according to their stream of study.

Sl. no.

Demographic variable

Frequency(f)

Percentage (%)

4

Area of study

a)        Arts

b)        Commerce

c)        Science

 

19

16

25

 

31.66%

26.66%

41.66%

 

The Table 1.4 depict that out of 60 undergraduate students majority of the students are from science 25(41.66%), 19(31.66%) from arts and 16(26.66%) from commerce stream.

 

Table-1.5: Frequency and percentage distribution of undergraduate students according to their Duration of Smartphone usage.

Sl. no.

Demographic variable

Frequency(f)

Percentage (%)

 

5

Duration of Smartphone usage

a)      4-5 hours

b)      6-10 hours

c)      11-15 hours

d)      16-20 hours

 

 

18

26

14

2

 

 

30%

43.33%

23.33%

3.33%

 

The Table 1.5 depict that out of 60 undergraduate students majority of the students 26(43.33%) uses 6-10 hours a day, 18(30%) uses 4-5 hours a day, 14(23.33%) uses 11-15 hours a day and 2(3.33%) uses 16-20 hours a day.

Section II: Data on assessment of level of Nomophobia among undergraduate students residing of Tinsukia District

 

Table 2.1: Frequency and Percentage distribution of level of Nomophobia among undergraduate students of Tinsukia District.

Sl No

Level of nomophobia

Frequency

(f)

Percentage (%)

1

No nomophobia

0

0

2

Mild nomophobia

0

0

3

Moderate nomophobia

4

6.66%

4

Severe nomophobia

56

93.33%

 

Table 2.1 and Figure: 1 depicts that out of 60 undergraduate students majority of the students i.e. 56(93.33%) has severe level of Nomophobia and 4(6.66%) has moderate level of Nomophobia.

 

Figure: 1

 

 

 

 

3. Section III: Data on association between the levels of Nomophobia among undergraduate students in Tinsukia District with their selected Demographic variables.

Table 3.1: Frequency, percentage distribution and χ2 value for assessment of level of Nomophobia among under graduate students of Tinsukia Districts with their selected Demographic variables.

Sl No.

Demographic variable

Level of Nomophobia

χ2 value

Remarks

 

No

Mild

Moderate

Severe

f

%

f

%

f

%

f

%

1

Age in years-

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

 

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

 

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

 

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

 

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

 

0

0

0

0

1

1

1

1

 

0

0

0

0

1.66

1.66

1.66

1.66

 

5

11

8

12

10

7

2

1

 

8.33

18.33

13.33

20

16.66

11.66

3.33

1.66

 

11.62

NS

2

Gender-

Male

Female

Others

 

0

0

0

 

0

0

0

 

0

0

0

 

0

0

0

 

2

2

0

 

3.33

3.33

0

 

24

32

0

 

40

56.66

0

 

0.07

 

NS

3.

Location of stay-

Own Resident

Hostel campus

 

0

0

 

0

0

 

0

0

 

0

0

 

4

0

 

6.66

0

 

42

14

 

70

23.33

 

1.90

 

NS

4.

Stream of study-

Arts

Commerce

Science

 

0

0

0

 

0

0

0

 

0

0

0

 

0

0

0

 

2

0

2

 

3.33

0

3.33

 

17

16

23

 

28.33

26.66

38.33

 

2.06

 

NS

5.

Duration of usage –

4-5 hours

6-10 hours

11-15 hours

16-20 hours

 

0

0

0

0

 

0

0

0

0

 

0

0

0

0

 

0

0

0

0

 

2

1

0

1

 

3.33

1.66

0

1.66

 

16

25

14

1

 

26.66

41.66

23.33

1.66

 

 

9.92

 

NS

 

 

Table 3.1 depicts that there is no significant association between the levels of Nomophobia and Demographic variables of age, gender, location of stay, stream of study, duration of usage of mobile phone among the undergraduate students in Tinsukia District.

 

DISCUSSION:

It is depicted in Table 2.1 that out of 60 undergraduate students 56(93.33%) had severe nomophobia and 4(6.66%) had moderate nomophobia. No undergraduate students found had Mild nomophobia.

 

The result of the present study found to be similar to the result of the study conducted by Kumar, Ravi etal. where it was observed that nomophobia is moderate to severe and that our “physical, mental, and social health” has a major concern.9

 

The findings of the present study also similar to the result of the study conducted by Elissavet Vagka etal where it was found that almost all participants (99.9%) exhibited any level of nomophobia, with the moderate level prevailing (57.0%). Women and non-working participants were more likely to exhibit severe nomophobia.10

The study also revealed that there is no significant association between the levels of Nomophobia and Demographic variables of age, gender, location of stay, stream of study, duration of usage of mobile phone among the undergraduate students in Tinsukia District.

 

CONCLUSION:

From the findings of the present study and discussion with the findings of various research studies, the researcher came to the conclusion that monophobia is prevalent among the Undergraduate students of Tinsukia district. Awareness should be created among the parents, students, teachers to initiate early prevention through organizing awareness programme, through social media platform etc.

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENT:

The authors gratefully acknowledge the participants of the study for their participation in the study and expresses deep appreciation to each of the participant for their cooperation and support for successful conduction of the study.

 

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST:

The writers say that they do not have any competing interests.

 

REFERENCES:

1.      Sagar. K. Smartphone Addiction: Nomophobia. Asian J. Nursing Education and Research. 2019; 9(4):583-587. doi: 10.5958/2349-2996.2019.00128.9

2.      Praveen Subravgoudar. Nomophobia: A Review. Int. J. Nur. Edu. and Research. 2021; 9(1): 115-119. doi: 10.5958/2454-2660.2021.00029.6 Available on: https://ijneronline.com/AbstractView.aspx?PID=2021-9-1-29

3.      Kusum Lata, Surat Ram Kudi. Nursing students Perception regarding Online classes during 2nd COVID-19 wave in India. Asian Journal of Nursing Education and Research. 2022; 12(3): 289-5. doi: 10.52711/2349-2996.2022.00061 Available on: https://ajner.com/AbstractView.aspx?PID=2022-12-3-7

4.      Bhartendra Sharma. Mobile Phone: Advantage and Disadvantage. Asian J. Nursing Education and Research. 2018; 8(3): 339-342. doi: 10.5958/2349-2996.2018.00068.X

5.      Venetia Notara, Elissavet Vagka etal., The Emerging Phenomenon of Nomophobia in Young Adults: A Systematic Review Study. 2021; 13(2): 120–136 Available on: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8519611/

6.      Shreya Sodhani, Priyanka Gupta et al. A study to evaluate mobile phone dependence among students of a medical teaching institute in Mumbai. International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health. 2021; 8(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20205703

7.      Haitham Jahrami et al. Internal consistency and structural validity of the nomophobia questionnaire (NMP-Q) and its translations: A systematic review with meta-analysis. Heliyon. 2023; 9(4): e15464 Available on : https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15464

8.      Yildirim, C., and Correia, A. P. Exploring the dimensions of nomophobia: Development and validation of a self-reported questionnaire. Computers in Human Behavior. 2015; 49: 130-137. Available in http://cs.oswego.edu/~caglar/publications/NMPQ_English.pdf

9.      Kumar, Ravi et al. Nomophobia -A rising concern among Indian students. Industrial Psychiatry Journal.  2021; 30(2): 230-233. DOI: 10.4103/ipj.ipj_134_21

10.    Elissavet Vagka et al. Prevalence and Factors Related to Nomophobia: Arising Issues among Young Adults. Eur. J. Investig. Health Psychol. 2023; 13(8): 1467-1476; https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe13080107

 

 

 

 

Received on 27.06.2024      Revised on 13.09.2024

Accepted on 07.11.2024      Published on 16.12.2024

Available online on December 31, 2024

Int. J. Nursing Education and Research. 2024;12(4):280-284.

DOI: 10.52711/2454-2660.2024.00060

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