Phubbing Phenomenon and its Determinants among Medical College Students in Greater Noida: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Smartphones and computers provide access to the Internet, which makes us highly reliant on them and leads to phubbing. Phubbing is described as the behaviour of ignoring others by looking at your mobile phone during a conversation with another individual and escaping from interpersonal communication. Almost all medical students have smartphones, so it is imperative to study this behaviour among them.

Aim: To assess phubbing and its determinants among medical students of the School of Medical Sciences and Research, Gautam Buddha Nagar.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out from July 2021 to September 2021 among medical students of the School of Medical Sciences and Research, Sharda University, Gautam Buddha Nagar, India. A total of 422 MBBS students, who were present during data collection were included. Data was collected using a self-administered structured questionnaire, consisting of the socio-demographic profile, phubber’s characteristics, phubbing scale, smartphone addiction scale, and self-control scale. The data were analysed using frequency, percentage, and unadjusted odds ratio.

Results: A total of 422 MBBS students data was analysed. Mean age, 21.28±1.27 years. The prevalence of phubbing was 42.7 percent in present study. Among them, 151 (83.9%) were college phubbers. On the phubbing scale, the majority of the participants, 306 (72.5%) reported that their phone was always within their reach. There was a significant association found between smartphone addiction (OR:3.880; 95%CI:2.290-6.574) and lack of self-control (OR:1.992; 95%CI:1.250-3.172) with phubbing.

Conclusion: This study found a high prevalence of phubbing behaviour. The results presented that phubbing is determined by a lack of self-control and smartphone addiction. Findings highlight the need to regulate smartphone and social media usage during college time and at home.