Half of Hyderabad youth in grip of ‘phubbing’: Study

HYDERABAD: More than half the city’s youth are suffering from psychological distress due to phubbing, the practice of ignoring the person around you as all your attention is on your phone, according to a study.  

The study, co-authored by Dr Sudha Bala, assistant professor at ESIC Hospital, Hyderabad, titled ‘Consequence of Phubbing on Psychological Distress among the Youth of Hyderabad’, says phubbing is very prevalent among people, especially among the youth, and is also adversely affecting their lives and their relationships with their friends and family.

The word ‘phubbing’ is a portmanteau — a joining of two words —  of ‘phone’ and ‘snubbing’ and was coined by an Australian advertising agency in 2012 as part of a campaign, and was later picked up worldwide.

The study, supported by ICMR, was undertaken in the city in 2018 by Dr Bala, Dharani Tekkam and Harshal Pandve. A total of 430 students from engineering, medicine and arts streams, as well as some from the Unani College answered the questionnaire.

The study found that the prevalence of phubbing was 52 per cent among the city youth. Of these, 23 per cent suffered severe psychological distress due to phubbing while it was moderate in 34 per cent. Statistically significant association was found between the amount of phubbing and psychological distress.

Dr Bala said in the case of one of the respondents, a youth in his early 20s, the relationship between him and his parents was affected as he spent considerable time on his phone in their presence, and would get annoyed if it was pointed out to him.

In many cases, especially among teenagers, phubbing took the form of gaming addiction. In an instance reported at a city hospital, a 14-year-old boy spent up to 18 hours a day playing an online game even though he was preparing for his Class X exams. He stopped studying, going out or meeting anyone, and ate a lot of junk food while playing. When his mother took away his phone, the usually calm boy showed irritability and even aggression towards his mother.

Consultant psychiatrist and psychoanalytic psychotherapist at Renova Hospitals, Dr Asfiya Kulsum, who handled the case, said phubbing was sometimes found among adults too. There had been cases where one spouse was spending too much time on his or her phone, which led to a marital conflict. “While treating children, we psycho educate parents too on giving importance to family time and insist them not to use gadgets too often,” Dr Kulsum said.