Peer-Reviewed Study

Technology Addiction Survey: An Emerging Concern for Raising Awareness and Promotion of Healthy Use of Technology

Jul 2017 🇮🇳 Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine PEER-REVIEWED

Published in the Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine, this NIMHANS-led community survey screened 2,755 people across a broad age range for signs of internet and mobile-phone overuse. Manoj Kumar Sharma and co-authors report internet-overuse indicators in about 1.3% of respondents and mobile-phone-overuse indicators in about 4.1%, with both patterns somewhat more common among men and among people from single or nuclear households compared with joint families. The paper frames these figures as an early, population-level awareness-raising screening effort rather than a clinical prevalence study, and argues for public-health promotion of healthy technology habits. TechKids Foundation cites this as an early data point behind NIMHANS's later clinical and public-health work on technology use in India, predating the SHUT Clinic's more targeted adolescent-focused research.

2,755 people surveyed (1,392 male, 1,363 female)

Community-based screening sample spanning ages 18 to 65, recruited to assess technology-use patterns and psychosocial correlates.

Internet-overuse indicators in ~1.3% of respondents

Reported as 2% among male respondents and 0.6% among female respondents.

Mobile-phone-overuse indicators in ~4.1% of respondents

Reported as 2.5% among male respondents and 1.5% among female respondents; overuse was more common in single/nuclear households than joint families.

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CITATION

Sharma, Manoj Kumar, Girish N. Rao, Vivek Benegal, K. Thennarasu, and Divya Thomas. "Technology Addiction Survey: An Emerging Concern for Raising Awareness and Promotion of Healthy Use of Technology." Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine 39, no. 4 (2017): 495–499. https://doi.org/10.4103/IJPSYM.IJPSYM_171_17

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