The smart phone is regarded as a crucial communication tool and is now an essential component of modern human society. Several global statistics and record-keepers, including Statista and BankMyCell, estimate that there will be approximately 3.8 billion smartphone users worldwide in 2021, despite the fact that the world's population will be close to 7.9 billion. It implies that roughly 50% of people on the planet have access to cellphones. The typical global user spends roughly 4.2 hours per day on a smartphone, which is an increase of 30% over the previous two years, according to the App Annie research.[1,2]

Indian smartphone users spend 4.6 hours a day on their devices on average, ranking third in the world for daily smartphone usage. The nation increased from 3.3 hours per day in 2019, a 39% increase in just one year. The most popular new apps at the time in India were Netflix and Amazon Prime, then Zerodha (finance), WhatsApp, Instagram, MX TakaTak, and MX Player (Content streaming).[2]

Excessive usage of smartphones has been linked to a number of health issues, including weariness, headaches, decreased concentration, and heat feelings in and around the ear, stress, sleeps disruptions, and frustration.[1]

It is imperative for various groups to understand the behavior of smartphone users. A number of studies have done in different parts of the India to see the pattern of Smart Phone usage; such studies are limited in hilly areas of Himachal Pradesh. Thus the present study was developed to evaluate the pattern of Smart Phone usage among adult population of Himachal Pradesh.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

To evaluate the pattern of Smart Phone usage among adult population of Himachal Pradesh

• Research Approach: Descriptive

• Research Design: Cross-sectional survey design

• Study Area: Himachal Pradesh

• Study Duration: Between May 2022- July 2022 

• Study Population:  Adults population aged between 18-60 years

• Sample Size:

400 adults assuming 50% adults have adequate knowledge regarding Smart Phone usage, 5% absolute error, 95% confidence level, and 5% non-response rate.

• Study Tool:

A Google form questionnaire consisting of questions regarding socio-demography and pattern of Smart Phone usage was created. 

• Inclusive Criteria: Who were willing to participate in the study.

• Exclusion Criteria: Who were not willing to participate in the study.

• Validity of Tool: By the experts in this field

• Data Collection:

Data was collected under the guidance of supervisors. The Google form questionnaire was circulated via online modes like e-mail and social media platforms like Whatsapp groups, Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin. Responses were then recorded in a Google Excel spreadsheet, the information from which was used to generate graphical display.

• Data Analysis:

Data was collected and entered in Microsoft excel spread sheet, cleaned for errors and analysed with Epi Info V7 Software with appropriate statistical test in terms of frequencies, percentage, mean standard deviation etc..

Ethical Considerations: Participants confidentiality and anonymity was maintained.

RESULTS

Present study was developed to evaluate the pattern of Smart Phone usage among adult population of Himachal Pradesh. A total of 400 respondents were participated in the study. Among the participants of the majority 267 (66.75%) were between 18-30 years, 244 (61%) were males, 201 (50.25%) were Graduate, 122 (30.5%) were employee, 278 (69.5%) were from rural area, 388 (97%) were Hindu and 221 (55.25%) were from joint family (Table-1). 

Table 1: Socio-demographic characteristics of study participants

Among the total 400 participants, 391 (97.75%) were using personal smart phone. 180 (45%) participants were using smart phone for 3-4 hours per day.

394 (98.5%) were using social networking sites, 123 (30.75%) were using gaming apps, 301(75.25%) were using music & video apps, 205 (51.25%) were using app related to the academic work and 164 (41%) were using news app. 

205 (51.25%) participants were suffering from eye strain/watering/itching for eyes, 108 (27.0%) were having difficulty in sleep, 114 (28.5%) were having headache, 87 (21.75%) were having cervical problem, 54 (13.5%) were having mental health problems and 48 (12%) were having musculoskeletal problem due to usage of smart phone (Table-2).

Table 2: Pattern of Smart phone usage

33 (8.25%)  suffered from any injury or met with an accidents due to use of smart phone, 108 (27%) were using  smart phone while driving, 167 (41.75%) were  using smart phone while in conference and workshop, 296 (74%) were  using smart phone while they were sitting in group of family members, 315 (78.75%) were using smart phone before going to bed in night, 176 (44%) were using smart phone if ever wake up in night, 249 (62.25%) were using smart phone soon after wake up in morning, 166 (41.5%) were using smart phone in toilet and 237 (59.25%) were felt that they were addicted to smart phone (Table-2).

In the present study, among the total 400 participants, 391 (97.75%) were using personal smart phone. 180 (45%) participants were using smart phone for 3 - 4 hours per day.[1] also found in their study that 98.19% of participants were using smart phone and  51.21% were using the mobile phone for more than five hours. According to the report by App Annie, average smartphone usage is about 4.6 hours a day in India which stands third after Indonesia and Brazil.[2]

In the current study, 394 (98.5%) were using social networking sites, 123 (30.75%) were using gaming apps, 301 (75.25%) were using music & video apps, 205(51.25%) were using app related to the academic work and 164 (41%) were using news app. [1] also found in their study that smart phone was used for academic purpose was 89.89%, entertainment 97.75% and for social networking 89.53% by the participants. [3] study in Nagpur city showed 5.96% were using internet on mobile phones for chatting, 59.59% for shopping and 40.92% for games. For playing games, mobile phone was used by 14.4%, 5.8% and for watching movies and songs 21.81%, 8.3% according to [4,5] In another study [6] 78% of smartphone owners indulge in searching from their device, 77% of smart phone users in India like listening to music on their smart device and close to 35 % of smart phone owners either read newspapers, book and magazines or watch TV and close to 33% enjoy playing games.

In our study, 205 (51.25%) participants were suffering from eye strain/watering/itching for eyes, 108 (27.0%) were having difficulty in sleep, 114 (28.5%) were having headache, 87 (21.75%) were having cervical problem, 54 (13.5%) were having mental health problems and 48 (12%) were having musculoskeletal problem due to usage of smart phone.[1] found in their study that 46.21% faced sleep deprivation due to smart phone use, (51.26%) experienced decrease in concentration, majority of them have faced eye symptoms (55.23%) and headache 42.60%, and one fourth of them had faced neck pain (27.44%), restlessness (24.55%) & painful fingers (24.19%) .Study conducted [7] where 64.3% had experienced health problems like headache, sleep disturbance, ear pain, irritability. Similar study was conducted [8] found that 35.4% of the participants complained of headache and spasms of arm or neck muscles (31.0%) or loss of attention (24.7%). 

In the present study, 33 (8.25%)  participants suffered from any injury or met with an accidents due to use of smart phone, 108 (27%) were using  smart phone while driving, 167 (41.75%) were  using smart phone while in conference and workshop, 296 (74%) were using smart phone while they were sitting in group of family members, 315 (78.75%) were using smart phone after going to bed in night, 176 (44%) were using smart phone if ever wake up in night, 249 (62.25%) were using smart phone soon after wake up in morning, 166 (41.5%) were using smart phone in toilet and 237 (59.25%) were felt that they were addicted to smart phone. Similar to our study, [1] reported that 23.83% of study participants kept the mobile under the pillow while sleeping, only 7.58% of them switched off their phone during sleep, 21.30% of them check the mobile for any missed calls or messages at midnight and 65.70% of them were checking the mobile as soon they get up from the bed. According to [9] in Kerala, 34% were checking their phone at midnight. In the study [1] 6.86% were using the mobile phone while driving and 17.4% in a study conducted in South India.[10] In studies conducted in Indian adult population, [11] found 33.5% participants while [12] found 39.6% participants had mobile phone dependence.

Our population was using smart phones more frequently, and as a result, people were more inclined to get dependent on them. While smartphones play a useful part in our everyday lives, excessive use of them can have a negative impact on our health, sleep, daily performance, and even lead to dependence and addiction. Interventions are needed to inspire people to stop using smartphones excessively since dependence is growing.

People need to be made aware of the health issues caused by excessive smartphone use. For this reason, health education campaigns can start focusing on the youth to inform them to only use their smartphones when absolutely necessary and for a short period of time.

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest

No funding sources

The study was approved by the IGMC Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India.

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