Effects of smartphone usage on psychological wellbeing of school going children in Lahore, Pakistan.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the effects of smartphone usage on the psychological wellbeing of schoolgoing children. METHODS: The descriptive cross-sectional community household survey was conducted from January to May 2017 in all the 10 towns of Lahore, Pakistan and comprised school-going smartphone users. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Children who used smartphones for up to 2 hours a day were considered short-term users while children who used smartphones for more than 2 hours a day were considered long-term users. SPSS 21 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Of the 2889 subjects, 1993(69%) were short-term users and 896(31%) were long-term users. Long-term smartphone usage was significantly associated with behavioural problems (p<0.05) as well as with psychological problems (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Long-term smartphone usage was found significantly associated with behavioural and psychological problems among school-going children.