The Use of Mobile Phone Features Among Students in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Iran

Mobile phones have become extremely popular and widely used all over the world. Nowadays, consumers around the world can purchase a single product and utilize it as a mobile phone, camera, camcorder, calculator, game console, text-messaging device, MP3 player, alarm clock, web browser and email device. The purpose of the present study was to explore self-reported use of various mobile phone featuresin university students. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 1180 students of the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in 2011. Data were collected by self-report questionnaires.The questionnaire consisted of demographic characteristics including age, sex, marital status, education and information about the possibilities of mobile features. The data were analyzed by software SPSS 18 and descriptive and analytical statistical methods were used. Female students used SMS and educational software like dictionaries significantly more than the male students, while male students used mobile phone more for accessing the Internet. Accordingly the overall average of mobile phone features use was significantly higher in male than female. Also, more male students than female ones had changed their mobile phones (P ≤ 0.001). Among mobile phone features SMS, alarm, clock, educational software like dictionaries, phonebook and memory are more frequently used by students. Most students use the multimedia or audio visual features of mobile phone. Mobile phones can be useful as a tool to educate and inform students.