A cross-sectional study regarding usage of mobile phone and internet facilities through mobile handsets and its role in empowering adolescent school going girls in a peri-urban area of Tripura, India

2016-11-24T04-45-51Z
Source: International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health
Anjan Datta, Shib Sekhar Datta, Nabarun Karmakar, Kaushik Nag, Kaushik Tripura, Partha Bhattacharjee.
Background: In India lack of access and control over resources severely constrain the capabilities of adolescent girls and limits their empowerment in wider society. As adolescents now-a-days are adopting new digital technologies almost as quickly as they are being introduced, this present study was aimed at assessing the use of mobile phone and internet facilities in mobile handset and its role in empowering adolescent school girls in a peri-urban area of Tripura, India. Methods: A school based cross-sectional study was conducted among purposively selected166 girls between Class VI to Class XI of Madhuban (East) Higher Secondary School, Dukli during January-February 2016. Data was collected using pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire and qualitative information was collected through two focus group discussions (FGDs). Data were analysed using computer software SPSS version 20.0. Results: The study reveals 18.1% subjects were having their own mobile handsets and majority of them (60%) were using it for communicating with others. The main reason for not having a mobile phone is they did not feel its required (52%). The main uses of mobile phones were; calling (46.7%), texting (16.7%), social networking (13.3%), gaming (16.7%) and others (6.7%). Significant association was found in this study between age of adolescent girls and ownership of mobile phone, usage of internet, smart phone usage. Conclusions: This study reveals that majority of the adolescent girls were having their own mobile handset, neither majority were using mobile phones; but believed mobile phones and internet could help in their empowerment.


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