Nomophobia and the psycho-physiological effects of PUBG gaming on medical college student’s health and academic performance

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Nomophobia is a psychological condition, where people have a fear of being detached from mobile phone connectivity. The medical college students are suffering from PUBG addiction which affects their psycho-physiological parameters. The aim is to assess the prevalence of nomophobia in the medical college students, to assess the stress and anxiety in the absence of smartphone and correlate it with the conduction velocity of median nerve. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the physiology department of a tertiary care teaching hospital for a period of 2 months involving 169 medical students using smartphones. For studying   nomophobia, the students in the study group were divided into groups A and B according to their smartphone usage and on the basis of a Smartphone Addiction Scale (SPAS) Questionnaire.   Results: Out of the 169 students, 80 were subjected for the assessment of the variability in the median nerve conduction velocity as a quantitative measurement to detect the decrease in the terminal latency index, motor distal latency and the conduction velocity due to excessive gaming or chronic smartphone usage. As per our hypothesis 94.37 % of the study sample had decreased terminal latency index and about 85.62 % of students had a decreased nerve conduction velocity. Conclusion: The prevalence of nomophobia in our study was 37.39 % as per the ICD-10 diagnostic criteria for dependence syndrome. Hence medical education to school-going children, teenagers and adolescents about the risks of excessive smartphone usage should be given as they are the most vulnerable to this disorder.