Smart phone is viewed as an important communication tool and is an integral part of the human society in the present era [1]. While the total population of the world in 2021 stands close to 7.9 billion, several global statistics and record keepers like Statista and BankMyCell claim the total number of smartphone users in the world to be around 3.8 billion. It means that approximately half of the world's population has access to smartphones. According to the report by App Annie, an average global user is spending about 4.2 hours per day on a smartphone, which itself is a 30% increase over two years [2].

The average time spent by an Indian user on a smartphone is 4.6 hours a day, which is third on the list of average hours spent on mobile phones. The country rose from 3.3 hours per day in 2019, which is a 39% rise within a year. The top breakout apps in India during the time were Zerodha (Finance) and WhatsApp, Instagram, MX TakaTak (social media) and MX Player, followed by Netflix and Amazon Prime (Content streaming) [2].

Excessive smart phone use has been found to be associated with various health problems such as impaired concentration, headache, fatigue, thermal sensations in and around ear, stress, sleep disturbances 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 District Shimla. Thus the present study was developed to evaluate the pattern of Smart Phone usage among adult population of District Shimla.

Objectives of the Study

To evaluate the pattern of Smart Phone usage among adult population of District Shimla.

• Research Approach: Descriptive

• Research Design: Cross-sectional survey design

• Study Area: District Shimla

• Study Duration: Between September 2021- October 2021 

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

Sample Size

About 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 analyzed with Epi Info V7 Software with appropriate statistical test in terms of frequencies, percentage, mean standard deviation etc.

Present study was developed to evaluate the pattern of Smart Phone usage among adult population of District Shimla. A total of 400 respondents including equal number of females and males (200 each) from district Shimla were participated in the study. Among the participants of the majority 243(60.8%) were between 18-30 years, 199(49.8%) were Graduate, 148(37.0%) were employee, 250(62.5%) were from urban area, 378 (94.5%) were Hindu and 237 (59.5%) were from nuclear family (Table 1).

Among the total 400 participants, 389 (97.3%) were using personal smart phone. 169(42.3%) participants were using smart phone for 3-4 hours per day.

About 395 (98.8%) were using social networking sites, 107(26.8%) were using gaming apps, 297(74.3%) were using music & video apps, 185(46.3%) were using app related to the academic work and 174 (43.5%) were using news app. 

About 200(50.0%) participants were suffering from eye strain/watering/itching for eyes, 92(23.0%) were having difficulty in sleep, 85(21.3%) were having headache, 41 (10.3%) were having cervical problem, 61 (15.3%) were having mental health problems and 31(7.8%) were having musculoskeletal problem due to usage of smart phone (Table 2).

About 27(6.8%) were suffered from any injury or met an accidents due to use of smart phone, 46 (11.5%) were using smart phone while driving,157(39.3%) were using smart phone while in conference and workshop, 275(68.5%) were using smart phone while they were sitting in group of family members, 311(77.8%) were using smart phone after going to bed in night, 181(45.3%) were using smart phone if ever wake up in night, 255(63.5%) were using smart phone soon after wake up in morning, 186(46.5%) were using smart phone in toilet and 221(55.3%) were felt that they were addicted to smart phone (Table 2).

Table 1: Socio-Demographic Characteristics of Study Participants

Table 2: Pattern of Smart Phone Usage

In the present study, among the total 400 participants, 389 (97.3%) were using personal smart phone. 169(42.3%) participants were using smart phone for 3-4 hours per day. Sinha et al. [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, 395 (98.8%) were using social networking sites, 107(26.8%) were using gaming apps, 297(74.3%) were using music and video apps, 185(46.3%) were using app related to the academic work and 174 (43.5%) were using news app. Sinha et al. [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. Bagday et al. [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 Damor et al. [4] and Ghosh et al. [5]. In another study by Mehta et al. [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, 200(50.0%) participants were suffering from eye strain/watering/itching for eyes, 92(23.0%) were having difficulty in sleep, 85(21.3%) were having headache, 41 (10.3%) were having cervical problem, 61 (15.3%) were having mental health problems and 31(7.8%) were having musculoskeletal problem due to usage of smart phone. Sinha et al. [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%) and painful fingers (24.19%). Study conducted by Arumugam et al. [7] where 64.3% had experienced health problems like headache, sleep disturbance, ear pain, irritability. Similar study was conducted by Paul et al. [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, 27(6.8%) were suffered from any injury or met an accidents due to use of smart phone, 46 (11.5%) were using smart phone while driving,157(39.3%) were using smart phone while in conference and workshop, 275(68.5%) were using smart phone while they were sitting in group of family members, 311(77.8%) were using smart phone after going to bed in night, 181(45.3%) were using smart phone if ever wake up in night, 255(63.5%) were using smart phone soon after wake up in morning, 186(46.5%) were using smart phone in toilet and 221(55.3%) were felt that they were addicted to smart phone. Similar to our study, Sinha et al. [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 George et al. [9] in Kerala, 34% were checking their phone at midnight. In the study by Sinha et al. [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, Nehra et al. [11], found 33.5% participants while Aggarwal et al. [12], found 39.6% participants had mobile phone dependence.

Smart phone usage is increasing in our population and the people are more likely to become dependent on it. Even though smart phone has positive role in our daily lives, its overuse leads to negative impact on health, sleep, day to day performance and lead to dependence and addiction. As dependence is increasing with the excessive use of smart phones, some interventions are required to motivate the people against it. 

People should be educated regarding the health problems owing to the over usage of smart phone. For this health education strategies can be initiated targeting the young and make them aware of using the smart phones only for necessity and for limited time.

Ethical Approval

Participants confidentiality and anonymity was maintained.

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