Phantom vibration and ringing syndromes among Indian medical students

Mobile phones are now crucial to our everyday routines, transforming how we interact, granting immediate access to information, fostering social bonds, facilitating shopping, advancing healthcare, enriching education, increasing productivity, and broadening entertainment choices. However, excessive phone usage can result in a higher prevalence of physical or psychological disorders. Phantom sensations, such as Phantom Vibration Syndrome (PVS) and Phantom Ringing Syndrome (PRS), describe the experience of feeling vibrations or hearing ringing from a phone when it is not actually vibrating or ringing. The objectives of the present study are a) to develop a self-administered smartphone addiction scale (SAS) among medical students at a tertiary care facility and b) to find out the aggravating factors for PVS and PRS among medical students in a tertiary care hospital. Our study was a cross-sectional observational survey conducted among 473 medical undergraduate students, using stratified random sampling to select the participants. The self-administered questionnaire was developed based on the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS), which is validated and efficient for evaluating smartphone addiction. Among the participants, 46% were males and 54% were females. Our study reported that 60% of the students experienced phantom vibration/ringing syndrome, 53% had poor sleep patterns due to excessive use of mobile phones, 58% felt their lives would be empty without phones, 57% thought about mobile phones even when they were not in their hands, and 56% felt the urge to use their smartphones again right after they stopped using them. About 58% of the students preferred talking with smartphone buddies to hanging out with real-life friends or other family members, reflecting poor socialization among young adults. We recommend a qualitative analysis of behavioural and psychological components to explore the root cause of this issue. Literature on the causes of phantom sensations/vibrations has been limited, with existing theories lacking a comprehensive perspective.