Impact of Short Term Mobile Phone Abstinence on Undergraduate Medical Students: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

Background: The purpose of the current study is to investigate the perceptions of completely abstaining oneself from using a smartphone for one whole day among medical students. This study is a unique initiative and it was experimented on a particular group of adolescent college students to completely abstain from using mobile phones for one whole day, and that specific day was coined as ‘No Mobile Day’. Methods: A total of 119 residential medical students participated in the study and they were instructed to abstain from any type of mobile phone or gadget usage for a period of 24 hours and they surrendered their mobile phones. A semi-structured questionnaire with open and close-ended questions was provided to the students at the end of the 24 hour period and the aims of the questionnaire are explained clearly to the respondents. Results: In total, 12 invalid responses were deleted, leaving 107 valid responses for analysis. The qualitative data analysis is performed using a constant comparison method. Results obtained from the current findings indicate the presence of mobile phone addiction in this particular group to some extent. However, majority of the students enjoyed this unique experience of not using mobile phones and embraced the concept of “No Mobile Day’. Conclusion: Given the alarming increase in depression among adolescents and the number of psychosocial treatments being administered to young people, conducting such events would be a great boost to slowly overcome social anxiety and social deprivation.