Mobile phone use by young children and parent's views on children's mobile phone usage
Aims: This study aims to explore the prevalence of mobile phone use among young children aged 6 months to 4 years. We studied the usage patterns, optimal age for use, and the attitudes of parents toward their child's mobile phone use. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in a pediatric...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
2023-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_703_23 |
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| _version_ | 1846170600288026624 |
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| author | Saumya Amin Shah Varsha Dilip Phadke |
| author_facet | Saumya Amin Shah Varsha Dilip Phadke |
| author_sort | Saumya Amin Shah |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Aims:
This study aims to explore the prevalence of mobile phone use among young children aged 6 months to 4 years. We studied the usage patterns, optimal age for use, and the attitudes of parents toward their child's mobile phone use.
Methods:
We conducted a cross-sectional study in a pediatric OPD of a tertiary teaching hospital for a period of 2-months. Ethics committee approval and informed consent was taken before conducting the research. A predesigned and validated questionnaire was used to collect data. We calculated a sample size of 90 children at a 95% confidence level. Chi-square test and Fischer's exact test were used as a test of significance at 5% level of significance.
Results:
We observed that 73.34% of children were using mobile phones and mobile phone usage increased with age. Children used mobile phones for educational purposes (43.9%), and for less than an hour a day (57.6%). In the 3-4 year age group, 19% used mobile phones for 3 hours or more. While 93.3% of parents felt they shouldn't give their child a phone, 71.4% children of these parents still used one.
Conclusions:
Our study highlights a high prevalence of mobile phone use among young children aged 6 months to 4 years. Although parents aimed to limit their child's phone usage, the reality was different. We recommend that guidelines on mobile phone use be followed in India. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-65eb8d18c5d243edb483cad347511341 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2249-4863 2278-7135 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-12-01 |
| publisher | Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care |
| spelling | doaj-art-65eb8d18c5d243edb483cad3475113412024-11-11T13:53:30ZengWolters Kluwer Medknow PublicationsJournal of Family Medicine and Primary Care2249-48632278-71352023-12-0112123351335510.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_703_23Mobile phone use by young children and parent's views on children's mobile phone usageSaumya Amin ShahVarsha Dilip PhadkeAims: This study aims to explore the prevalence of mobile phone use among young children aged 6 months to 4 years. We studied the usage patterns, optimal age for use, and the attitudes of parents toward their child's mobile phone use. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in a pediatric OPD of a tertiary teaching hospital for a period of 2-months. Ethics committee approval and informed consent was taken before conducting the research. A predesigned and validated questionnaire was used to collect data. We calculated a sample size of 90 children at a 95% confidence level. Chi-square test and Fischer's exact test were used as a test of significance at 5% level of significance. Results: We observed that 73.34% of children were using mobile phones and mobile phone usage increased with age. Children used mobile phones for educational purposes (43.9%), and for less than an hour a day (57.6%). In the 3-4 year age group, 19% used mobile phones for 3 hours or more. While 93.3% of parents felt they shouldn't give their child a phone, 71.4% children of these parents still used one. Conclusions: Our study highlights a high prevalence of mobile phone use among young children aged 6 months to 4 years. Although parents aimed to limit their child's phone usage, the reality was different. We recommend that guidelines on mobile phone use be followed in India.https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_703_23childrenexposuremobile phonesparents believescreen time |
| spellingShingle | Saumya Amin Shah Varsha Dilip Phadke Mobile phone use by young children and parent's views on children's mobile phone usage Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care children exposure mobile phones parents believe screen time |
| title | Mobile phone use by young children and parent's views on children's mobile phone usage |
| title_full | Mobile phone use by young children and parent's views on children's mobile phone usage |
| title_fullStr | Mobile phone use by young children and parent's views on children's mobile phone usage |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mobile phone use by young children and parent's views on children's mobile phone usage |
| title_short | Mobile phone use by young children and parent's views on children's mobile phone usage |
| title_sort | mobile phone use by young children and parent s views on children s mobile phone usage |
| topic | children exposure mobile phones parents believe screen time |
| url | https://journals.lww.com/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_703_23 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT saumyaaminshah mobilephoneusebyyoungchildrenandparentsviewsonchildrensmobilephoneusage AT varshadilipphadke mobilephoneusebyyoungchildrenandparentsviewsonchildrensmobilephoneusage |