Effect of Smartphone Addiction among School Going Children (8-12 Years) during COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT Background Addiction to Smartphone usage is a worldwide problem which may have negative impact on health and wellbeing of people. The period of covid 19 pandemic it has a huge effect on school going children as there is a only way for education and entertainment. Aim This study aimed to investigate the Effect of Smartphone Addiction among School Going Children (8-12 Years) during COVID-19 Pandemic in Selected CBSE Schools of Nadiad City. Objectives of the study were  To determine the level of Smartphone Addiction among School Going Children.  To evalute the impact of Smartphone Addiction among School Going Children.  To find the time spent by the children with Smartphone among School Going Children.  To find out the association of Smartphone Addiction with selected demographic variables.  To co-relate the impact of Smartphone Addiction with level of Smartphone Addiction among School Going Children. Methods The cross-sectional study was conducted in 2021 using a web-based questionnaire distributed via social media. In this study, 100 students were selected by systematic random sampling technique. Five point LikertScale was used to assess the level of smart phone addiction (15 items) and effect of smartphone addiction (15 items). Higher scores indicated higher levels of addiction and effects. Factors associated with these outcomes were identified by using descriptive, inferential and regression analysis. Result Complete questionnaires were 100, of which (52%) 52 were females and (48%)48 were males. Majority of children 31(31%) were from 5 standard and 87(87%) children living with parents. The overall percentage mean score of Smartphone Addiction five point likert scale was 44.6 ± 12.4, while the mean score of Effect of Smartphone Addiction five point likert scale was 54.73 ± 14.84. Among 100 children 49 (49%) children had severe smart phone addiction, 38 (38%) children had moderate level smart phone addiction and 13 (13%) students had mild smart phone addiction, whereas 6(6%) had mild effect of smart phone addiction 22 (22%)had a moderate level of effects and 72 (72%) has a sever effect of smart phone addiction. The simple linear regression study showed a significant increase in effects levels upon one unit increase in Smartphone addiction (b = 0.73, p-value < 0.001) The result showed a fair positive correlation between Smartphone addiction and its effects among school going children (r = 0.6094, p-value < 0.001) The study represent there was no statistical significance between smartphone addiction and demographic variables of children such as age, gender, relation with care taker, type of family living area, religion and number of family member. Conclusion During Covid 19 pandemic children were addicted to smartphone for various academic and entertaining purposes. This might lead to many health problems and the most vulnerable group was children as there is a need to organize programs to promote healthy smartphone usage to minimize the impact of smartphone addiction and its effect to health and well being of children.