Background & Objective Digital Service Providers have come up with certain ‘Digital Well-Being Features’ as a step towards tackling harmful effects of screen overuse on physical and mental health. However, the awareness and use of the same remains scant. Our objective was to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding Digital Well-being features in the adult population of Maharashtra, India and the associations and correlations of the practice of using these features with screen time and degree of screen addiction.

Methods A cross-sectional online questionnaire-based study was conducted among 335 participants who were selected using quota sampling and were administered a Smartphone Addiction Scale and a self-designed questionnaire.

Results Knowledge attitudes were good and total of 65.4% participants were digital wellbeing feature users. Correlation of digital hygiene score and digital wellbeing score was found neither with addiction nor with the average screen time.

Interpretation & Conclusion Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding Digital Well-Being features were adequate among the urban population of Maharashtra. However, their use was not found to be associated with reduced screen time or a low screen addiction score. With further development and standardization, these features can be a useful tool for prevention of screen overuse and addiction.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This study did not receive any funding

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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

Ethics committee of Seth GS Medical College & KEM Hospital gave ethical approval for this work

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