Published Paper Details:

Smartphone addiction is a recent phenomenon in India owing to the economic development, technological advancements in telecommunications and the reduction in high-speed data prices, especially with the Introduction of jio info comm in September 2016, offering free 4G data services for more than six months. Indian youth are quick adopt to these new technologies changes and taking advantage of low cost high-speed data services because of their experimental nature. Today it is a common sight to see the Indian youth immersed in their mobile communication devices(smartphone) leading to Smartphone addiction and various kinds of Depression (Nino G, 2020). Smartphone addiction is still underdiagnosed and potentially a severe and widespread form of addiction (Antounc, 2018). The current study aims to ascertain the degree of problematic Smartphone use and its relationship to Depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder among emerging Indian adults between 18 and 25, who are in an important stage of personality development and growth during the COVID-19 pandemic. A web-based survey is being used for the cross-sectional research of emerging Indian Adults (18-24). The survey includes demographics, various Smartphone use patterns, validated MPPUS-10, and screening questions for Depression using PHQ-9 and questions measuring obsessive-compulsive disorder using BOCS. The study took into account a sample of college students from a variety of ethnic backgrounds (N=413, Mage =18-24, SD age =between 4 and 5, 32% female). Using R software and the lavaan package, descriptive statistics, path analysis, Confirmatory factor analysis, Exploratory analysis and mediation analysis were done. The study's findings reveal the changes in the path direction between the Time spent on smartphone, problematic smartphone use, depression, OCD and how the depression levels during the pandemic affected the smartphone usage behaviour among the Emerging adults.