Abstract
Smart phones have become an integral part of our life. However, excessive usage of the smartphone can affect postures and lead to pain, musculoskeletal disorders, or change in the behavior of individuals. In this study, we investigate the psychological and musculoskeletal issues related to smartphone usage associated with smartphone users in India. Eighty Indian participants were involved in this study. A questionnaire involving 2 sections (to assess psychology and musculoskeletal issues with smartphone users) was developed and surveyed among the participants. RBG pain score was used for rating pain (where 0 designates no pain and 5 designates severe pain). From statistical analysis, 96% of the respondents feel that smart phones are a necessity and not a luxury. 90% of the respondents are happy/very happy with their smartphones. 85% of the respondents feel that the brand of their smartphones is very important/important/fairly important. 31% of the respondents are addicted to mobile phone usage. Respondents using bigger displays (>5.5 inches) have more pain in their fingers, hand, and shoulders compared to smaller displays (<5.5 inches) respondents. Respondents using tempered glass display have less pain in their fingers, the base of the thumb, and front of hand compared to tempered glass display respondents. These results indicate that smartphones are a necessity and appropriate ergonomics issues need to be considered and addressed to develop a better design of smartphones that ensure the health and wellbeing of users.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Hansraj KK (2014) Assessment of stresses in the cervical spine caused by posture and position of the head. Surg Technol Int 11(25):277–9. http://europepmc.org/article/med/25393825
Gustafsson E, Johnson PW, Hagberg M (2010) Thumb postures and physical loads during mobile phone use: a comparison of young adults with and without musculoskeletal symptoms. J Electromyogr Kinesiol 20(1):127–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jelekin.2008.11.010
Gold JE, Driban JB, Thomas N, Chakravarty T, Channell V, Komaroff E (2012) Postures, typing strategies, and gender differences in mobile device usage: an observational study. Appl Ergon 43(2):408–412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2011.06.015 Epub 2011 Jul 20
Shan Z, Deng G, Li J, Li Y, Zhang Y, Zhao Q (2013) Correlational analysis of neck/shoulder pain and low back pain with the use of digital products, physical activity and psychologicalstatus among adolescents in Shanghai. PloS One 8(10):78–109. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0078109
Kietrys DM, Gerg MJ, Dropkin J, Gold JE (2015) Mobile input device type, texting style and screen size influence upper extremity and trapezius muscle activity, and cervical posture while texting. Appl Ergon 50:98–104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2015.03.003
Masiu MT, Chukwuere JE (2018) The effect of smartphones on students’ academic life: a perceptive from a South African University. In: International conference on business and management dynamics ICBM-2018. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329093587
Shoukat S (2019) Cell phone addiction and psychological and physiological health in adolescents. EXCLI J 18:47–50. https://doi.org/10.17179/excli2018-2006
Sema C, Ayda K (2019) Determination of musculoskeletal system pain, physical activity intensity, and prolonged sitting of university students using smartphone. Biomed Human Kinet 11:28–35. https://doi.org/10.2478/bhk-2019-0004
Alsalameh AM, Harisi MJ, Alduayji MA, Almutham AA, Mahmood FM (2019) Evaluating the relationship between smartphone addiction/overuse and musculoskeletal pain among medical students at Qassim University. J Family Med Prim Care 8:2953–2959. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_665_19
Altamimi TN, Alex J, Khan MM, Nair BVS (2020) Development and validation of a smartphone impact scale among healthcare professionals. J Taibah Univ Med Sci 15(5):387–397. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtumed.2020.05.009
Eide TA, Aarestad SH, Andreassen CS, Bilder RM, Pallesen S (2018) Smartphone restriction and its effect on subjective withdrawal related scores. Front Psychol 9:1444. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01444
Berolo S, Wells RP, Benjamin CA (2011) Musculoskeletal symptoms among mobile hand-held device users and their relationship to device use: a preliminary study in a Canadian university population. Appl Ergon 42:371–378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apergo.2010.08.010
Balasubramanian V, Swami PG (2007) Manual bar bending—an occupational hazard for construction workers in developing nations. J Constr Eng Manage 133(10):791–797. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9364(2007)133:10(791)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Shrisowmya, P., Adalarasu, K., Monisha Gowri, S., Aravind Krishna, T. (2022). Analysis of Risk Factors (Psychological and Musculoskeletal Disorders) Associated with Smart Phone Usage Among Indian Users. In: Chakrabarti, D., Karmakar, S., Salve, U.R. (eds) Ergonomics for Design and Innovation. HWWE 2021. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 391. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94277-9_37
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94277-9_37
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-94276-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-94277-9
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)