Technology Addiction and Associated Health Problems among Medical Students in Kalaburagi District
Keywords:
Technology, addiction, dependency, gadgets, youthAbstract
Introduction: Over the past decade, society has witnessed massive changes with media and technology playing a major role in the ways we work and live. Advancements in digital technologies have resulted in various positive applications. However, research has shown a number of negative consequences as well; such as depression, anxiety, or damage to relationships etc. Thus this study was designed to estimate; 1) Prevalence of technology addiction & dependency on them and 2) To find the associated health problems among those addicted.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 102 under-graduate medical students of Gulbarga Institute of medical sciences, Kalaburagi. A structured e-questionnaire designed with Google forms was deployed to collect data. Study was undertaken for two months from Dec 2017 to Jan 2018.
Results: Over 60 % of the study subjects spent more than 7 hour/day with some technological devices and 49 % of the subjects showed high degree of dependency on technology. Among addicted subjects feeling anxious/nervous was the commonest symptom reported; followed by feeling sad/depressed.
Conclusions: Prevalence of technology addiction was high among medical students and subjects engaged for more than 7 hours/day with technological devices, reported health problems in higher proportion.
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