Author’s reply for article “nomophobic behaviors among smartphone using medical and engineering students in two colleges of West Bengal”

Sir, We appreciate that the readers have taken great interest in our topic of research.[1] It would be beneficial for all of us to clarify some aspects of the methodology in a point-wise manner. The Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) developed by Yildirim and Correia[2] did not mention any specific cutoff for classifying nomophobia. Using Likert’s scale, the higher scores indicated more toward the nomophobic spectrum. We used two-step cluster analysis incorporating all the individual items of NMP-Q. Hence, based on the responses of the participants, the group with higher mean scores in Cluster analysis indicated the nomophobic group The readers have indeed raised a valid point. Our objective was to compare nomophobic behaviors of smartphone-using students in the two colleges, which might not, in general, represent the picture of other colleges in West Bengal or India. It might be that some facilities are also available in other mobiles, but it is inclusive in smartphones as well. As it is a validated questionnaire, used in a similar group of participants, questions were not omitted. Both the colleges had in campus Wi-Fi connectivity free of cost. Both the colleges were government institutions. Although it was not assessed, it can be assumed that students belonged to similar socioeconomic background. Moreover, booking cabs using digital platform was not the norms in the area. These intricate qualitative issues were beyond the purview of our study We agree to the point raised by the readers. The purpose of smartphone or gadgets usage might vary. In that case, gadgets over usage or technophobia could be explored like other authors[3],[4] We have tried to introduce the topic at first in our discussion. Within limitations of our study, we have explored few aspects of this emerging problem. Further researches could be done for in-depth exploration of the issue. Financial support and sponsorship Nil. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest.