Geetha Paulsamy
BACKGROUND: There is an increasing number of children who use smartphones in urban India. They use smartphones mainly for playing various games and sometimes for study purpose. Many of them use their parent’s phones without any awareness about the ocular side effects of smart phone. We wanted to determine the number of school children using smartphones, their knowledge regarding the ocular effects of smart phones, preventive measures and as to whether they are practicing such methods.
METHODS: This is a cross sectional study based on questionnaire. A total of 142 school children in the age group of 9 to 16 were included in the study. They along with their parents were asked to answer the questionnaire.
RESULTS: 142 school going children were included in the study with a mean age of 14.3. There were 67 male children and 75 female children. 68.31% of school children use smart phones with an average of 10.30 hours per week. 71.12% of children are not aware about the ocular effects of smart phones. There is no significant difference between adolescents and pre adolescents (p>0.05). 25.35% consider good lighting prevents ocular ill effects and 10.56% felt taking a break helps in good eye health. Compared to pre adolescents, adolescents are better aware about preventive measure (p<0.01).
CONCLUSION: 68.31% of urban school children are using smartphones with an average time spent is 10.30 hours per week. 71.12% are not aware about the ocular effects of smart phones and 64.08% donot know how to prevent it.
