INTRODUCTION:

We all are living in a world that grows constantly, over the period. In the last two decades technology is boosting in each area of life. There is no second view that humans are surrounded by various technologies. On a lighter side, one of the very famed movies “3 idiots” at Bollywood stated, “we are completely surrounded with machines from the tip of the pen to the zip of pant”.

Fortunately, this comedian quote is very true in today’s world. We humans cannot even imagine where the world and technology will be in the next 50 years. The advancement in the technology has drastically changed our lives. An American documentary called ‘The Social Dilemma’ has shown how social media's design nurtures an addiction, manipulates people's views, emotions, and behaviour, and spreads conspiracy theories and disinformation, to maximize profit. The film also examines the issue of social media's effect on mental health including the mental health of adolescents and rising teen suicide. We all are being addicted to this technology. Computers and mobile phones are examples of such technology.

According to Shambare et al. (2012), cell phones are “possibly the biggest non-drug addiction of the 21st century”. Now a day’s college students are spending more than 9 hours on their mobile phones. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related constraints, the use of the internet and technology has increased as a result of the provision of needs and education, and thus, its effect on addiction has been observed. It is an example of “A paradox of technology” having both the property of freeing and enslaving. Freeing from the real world and enslaving to the virtual world. Over the last 15 years, there has been tremendous growth in the use of mobile phones because of its usefulness in communication and interaction and the sphere of work and private life. As compared to landline connection which took more than a century to reach one billion users, the mobile phones with no wonder took around 20 years to attract these many users. Around the globe there are around 6.8 billion people who have subscribed for the mobile connections during 2019 and out of them 2.7 billion were smartphones users and the count is pacing up with the passing of hours. Initially, India was chasing China for population explosion, but the aim of chase has shifted to mobile phones and the markets of India have evolved as the largest market for mobile phones after the Chinese market. As per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), there were 1168.3 million subscriptions for mobile connections whereas the total population of India itself is 1339.2 million during the month of July 2019 and out of them 373 million were smartphones users.

Communication was the major function served by mobile phones after its invention; but, nowadays, its function has evolved as mobile computers that come with preloaded multiple apps for music, games, shopping, videos, calculators, cameras, alarms, including several distinguished advantages in terms of enhanced and smooth connection socially, offering reduction in loneliness and secured sense of feeling in case of emergencies. Moreover, due to the increasing demand, decreasing cost, and more affordability and availability, dependency of mobile phone is raising worldwide.

Despite many advantages, relationship with smartphones can be crippling. Misuse and excessive use of smartphones can cause psychological, behavioural and physical problems such as headaches, loss of concentration, accidents, stress, anxiety, addiction, ringxiety and relatively a new phenomenon: Nomophobia.

AIM OF THE STUDY:

To assess thelevel of nomophobia among people residing in selected areas

OBJECTIVES:

1. To assess the level of nomophobia among people of the selected areas.

2. To find out association between study findings with selected demographic variables.

Assumption:

1. Nomophobia may vary according to age.

2. Nomophobia may be higher in adolescents.

3. Levels of Nomophobia may depend upon the duration of mobile phone used by the user.

Research Design and approach:

Research design is the master plan specifying the method and procedure for collecting and analysing the need information as the research aimed at assessing the level of nomophobia among people residing in selected areas. The research design used for the study was Non experimental descriptive research design.

Study variables:

Variable that is observed or measured in natural setting as they exist, without manipulation or imposing the effect of intervention or treatment is called as research variable.

Research variable:

In the present study the Research variable is nomophobia among people.

Extraneous variable:

Extraneous variables are variable outside the purposes of the study that could influence the study’s result. Extraneous variable for the present study was the a) socio demographic characteristics of respondents like age, gender, Education, type of family, religion and type of mobile phone you use.

Setting of the study:

The physical location and condition in which data collection takes place in the study The present study was conducted at the selected areas.

Population:

The total group of individual people or things meeting the designated criteria of interest to the researcher The population for the study was in this study the population is people.

Sample:

“It is a subset of population selected for the particular study and the members of the sample are the study subject”

The sample of the study was the people of the selected areas and available during data collection.

Sample size:

The sample size for the present study is 390.

Sampling technique:

Simple Random sampling is the simplest of the probability sampling techniques. In this technique, the researcher randomly selects the sample from a sampling frame. Each member of the accessible population has an equal chance of being chosen as a subject

In the present study, simple random sampling technique was used where in 385 samples from selected areas

Criteria for inclusion in the study:

Inclusion criteria:

People who are,

1. Age group of 15-60 years

2. Using smartphones.

3. Willing to participate in the study and will provide written informed consent.

Method of data collection:

The tool is to assess level of nomophobia among people residing in selected areas.

It consists of two sections:

Section A: Socio demographic data

Section B: The Nomophobia Questionnaire and Mobile Phone Involvement Questionnaire (Walsh et al., 2010) were employed in the present study.

Statistical analysis:

The data were computerized and verified using the SPSS (statistical package for social science) version 16.0 to perform tabulation and statistical analysis. Qualitative variables were described in frequency and percentages, while quantitative variables were described by mean and standard deviation.

RESULTS:

Section I: Description of Sociodemographic data of adolescent girls

Section II: Assessment of the level of nomophobia among people residing in selected areas

Section III: Hypotheses testing To associate the study findings with selected demographic variables. Hypothesis testing was done by using chi-square test.

Section – I: Description of Sociodemographic data of respondents

Table No: 1 Frequency and percentage distribution of people as per their sociodemographic characteristics (n=390)

S.No	Demographic variables		Frequency	Percentage
1	Age in years	14-19	69	17
		20-29	212	54
		30-39	39	10
		40-49	54	14
		Above 50 years	21	5
2	Gender	Male	97	25
2	Gender	Female	293	75
3	Education	Illiterate	1	0.3
		Secondary Education	45	11.7
		Undergraduates	178	46
		Graduate	110	28
		Post graduates	56	14
4	Type of family	Nuclear	261	67
		Joint	111	28
		Broken	3	0.8
		Separate	15	3.8
5	Religion	Christian	76	19
		Hindu	285	73
		Muslim	17	5
		Other	12	3
6	Which type of mobile phone you use	keypad mobile phone	3	01
6	Which type of mobile phone you use	touchscreen	387	99
7	How long you use mobile phone in a day	1 hour	23	6
		2-3 hour	26	7
		4-5 hour	128	33
		6-10 hour	63	16
		More than 10 hours	150	38
8	How often do you check your mobile phone?	Once a day	6	2
		2-5 times a day	74	18
		6-10 times a day	104	27
		11-15 times a day	67	17
		more than 15 times a day	139	36
9	How much money do you spend every month on mobile recharge?	Rs. 100-200	95	24
		Rs. 201-300	159	41
		Rs. 301-400	43	11
		Rs. 401-500	32	8
		More than 500 Rs	61	16
10	How long do you speak on mobile phone per day	2 to 3 hours	48	12
		4 to 5 hours	9	2
		31 min to 1 hour	145	38
		less than 30 min	183	48
11	How many times do you upgrade software on your mobile in a year	1	140	36
		2-3 times	166	43
		4-5 times	41	10
		more than 5 times	43	11

The above-mentioned table deals with the demographic data of sample with regard to age, gender, education, type of family, religion, locality, type of family, type of mobile phone you use, money spent every month on mobile recharge, how long do you speak on mobile phone per day and how many times do you upgrade software on your mobile in a year.

Fig no: 1 Pie diagram showing percentage wise distribution according to the level of nomophobia of the respondents

Pie diagramshows the level of nomophobia of the people. The results reveal that majority 160(41%) the respondents had severe nomophobia, 33% of the respondents had moderate level of nomophobia, 23% of the respondents had mild level of nomophobia and only 3% have no nomophobia.

To find association between level of nomophobia with the selected demographic variables

Table No: II

S.N	Variables	ᵧ²	Level of Significance
1	Age	7.45	Significant
2	Gender	0.44	Not Significant
3	Education	1.45	Not Significant
4	Type of mobile phone used	5.93	Significant
5	Type of family	0.62	Not Significant
6	Money spent every month on mobile recharge	6.45	Significant
7	How long do you speak on mobile phone per day	7.87	Significant

df-1, table = 3.84, p≥ 0.05, not significant

Chi square values were calculated to find out the association between the level of nomophobia with the selected demographic variables. The findings revealed that there was significant association between level of nomophobia and demographic variables such as Age, type of mobile phone used, money spent every month on mobile recharge, how long do you speak on mobile phone per day (ᵧ2 =7.45, 5.93, 6.45 and 7.87).

Hence the stated null hypothesis is accepted as there was significant association between level of nomophobia and demographic variables such as Age, type of mobile phone used, money spent every month on mobile recharge, how long do you speak on mobile phone per day

CONCLUSION:

It is concluded that 97% of the respondents had nomophobia. Of them, majority (41%) of the participants had severe level of nomophobia and majority of the study participants (33%) had moderate level of nomophobia. Excessive use of smart phone may result in dependency on mobile phone. It is an alarming sign for the public and health-care professionals. More focus should be given for the early detection and intervention for treat nomophobia.

RECOMMENDATION:

Based on the findings of study following recommendation have been made for future study:

1. Based on this study, a new study with larger samples will improve the generalization of findings.

2. A similar study can be a plan by strengthening the external validity of the research.

3. A parallel study can also be the plan with a quasi-experimental research design.

4. One component of the present research can also be studied in detail such as knowledge, attitude, or behavioural component of nomophobia and internet addiction.

5. A-bit similar study can also be planned with word of technological addictions (Wider perspective instead of nomophobia and internet addiction)

6. Prospective longitudinal studies may be carried out with the same problem statement.

7. Further studies with profession-specific adults like in nursing/medical/paramedical/ engineering/ pharmacy/ science stream adolescents can be the plan.

8. Research may be carried out to assess people self-control to respond to ill effects of nomophobia and internet addiction.

9. Further studies carry with the participation of parents and teachers to assess the perception of parents along their children’s regarding nomophobia and internet addiction.

10. The government should make stringent digital laws that make people to appropriately use mobile and internet services.

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Received on 06.02.2023 Modified on 17.06.2023

Int. J. of Advances in Nur. Management. 2023; 11(4):217-221.

DOI: 10.52711/2454-2652.2023.00049