scholarly journals Internet usage and associated factors among college students in Saudi Arabia

Author(s):  
Sohail Akhtar ◽  
Asif Khan

Background: Internet usage has heightened exponentially globally. The Internet is a system of connected computer networks globally and millions of users are connected globally. Internet usage has increased.Methods: A cross-sectional study was to done to know the prevalence of internet usage.Results: The general prevalence of internet addiction (expressive as heavy users and very heavy users/addicts) was 42.5%.Conclusions: A high proportion of students in the college suffer from the adverse effects of Internet addiction. It is essential for psychoanalysts and psychologists to be mindful of the mental problems induced by Internet addiction.

Author(s):  
Mariavinifa X. ◽  
Govindarajan P. K. ◽  
John William A. Felix

Background: There has been rapid growth on the internet not only in India, but also in worldwide. It is a major public health problem affecting an enormous number of individuals. The objective of the present study was to determine the prevalence of Internet addiction and its associated factors among college students using smartphone in Tamil Nadu.Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in Annamalai University from October 2019 to October 2020.A total of five hundred students from various streams (medicine, dental, bachelor of physiotherapy, engineering, arts and science) were selected conveniently and a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. A questionnaire consisting of socio-demographic data, questions on internet usage and Young's internet addiction test were used to gather data. Descriptive Statistics was defined in terms of percentage and frequency. Inferential statistics was analysed with Chi-Square test.Results: Out of the five hundred students, 45.4% were males, 54.6 % were females .The users were divided into groups, 38.8 % as normal users, 37% as mild addicts, 21% as moderate addicts, 3.2% as severe addicts. Thus overall prevalence of internet addiction was 61.2%. Degree of internet addiction was significantly associated with age, time spent daily on the internet and using internet for social media, online communications and playing online games.Conclusions: The present study showed a prevalence of internet addiction is high among college students. Therefore, it’s essential to make awareness among the students to enhance their quality of life through the prevention of addictive usage of the internet.  


Author(s):  
Priyanka . ◽  
R K Pal

Introduction: Excessive use of the Internet affects the academic achievements of students. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of Internet addiction and the pattern of Internet use among undergraduate medical students. Method: This analytical cross-sectional study conducted on 177 undergraduate medical students in batch 2016, 2017 and 2018, who were included in this study by convenience sampling method. The study tool was  Young’s Internet Addiction Test containing questions regarding the pattern of Internet use. Data entry and analysis was done by using Microsoft excel and SPSS version 21. Qualitative data were described in terms of frequency and percentage while quantitative data were expressed as mean and standard deviation. Chi square test and multiple linear regression were used to find out the relationship between various factors and Internet Addiction (IA).  The significance level was considered 0.05. Results: The mean age of the participants was 20.3 years (± 1.19), and 62 % of the subjects were males. The prevalence rate of Internet Addiction (IA) was found to be 56.5% and 42.9% of them were in mild and 13.6% were in moderate addiction category. Being male (β= -0.143, p=0.038), staying at a hostel (β= 0.167, p=0.018), not having a time preference for using the Internet (β= -0.174, p=0.012), spending more time on the Internet everyday (β= 0.201, p=0.000), being always online (β= 0.276, p=0.000) and more years of using the Internet (β= 0.175, p=0.015) were significantly related with IA in students. Conclusion: A large proportion of medical students were found to be addicted to the Internet. Therefore, this issue should be addressed immediately.


Author(s):  
Khan I. Aqeel ◽  
S. K. Misra

Background: Internet has become an essential part of one’s life in this modern era where technology is taking over the world. Risk of Internet addiction (IA) has increased in this year 2020, due to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, where most of time students are restricted to their homes thus relying on social media to be in touch with outer world, moreover surfing of web, as well as online learning practices increased their screen and internet exposure time. Hence, we conducted a study to assess internet addiction among medical undergraduate students of Government Medical College in Agra.Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 600 medical undergraduate students of S.N. Medical College, Agra. A self-administered, pre-validated questionnaire was used and a total of 488 students responded. E-questionnaire consist of questions about demographic information and internet usage pattern, it also contains Young’s IA test scale to measure internet addiction. Data obtained was analyzed and inferences were drawn.Results: The prevalence of IA was 61.5%. Mean ± Standard deviation (SD) age of the participants was 22.27±1.59 years and 48.36% were males. IA was significantly associated with male students, higher family income group and higher year of academic course. IA was also statistically significant with higher number of years since using internet, greater screen and internet usage time.Conclusion: Internet addiction is a growing problem among students of professional courses especially in medical colleges. IA has psychological, physical, and social impact on student’s life. So, it is necessary to develop strategies for prevention of internet addiction.


Author(s):  
Neha Priya ◽  
Samreen Khan ◽  
Sachin Lal

Background: Internet is a boon and has certainly helped to bring the world closer. It has been a great medium for students to communicate and get information by transforming the academic landscape. However the excessive and undisciplined use of internet by individuals especially in the last decade, has led to the emergence of the concept of internet addiction. Therefore, a cross sectional study has been conducted to investigate the use of internet facility among undergraduate students from Teerthankar Mahaveer University using a validated questionnaire. There were about 42 million active internet users in urban India in 2008 when compared to 5 million in 2000. India now has the world’s third-largest national digital population, with approximately, 159 million Internet users in 2014, which is projected to reach 314 million by 2017 (IMRB 2014). The aim was to study prevalence and pattern of internet usage among undergraduate students in Moradabad. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among medical students (n=382) belonging to all the professionals of medical college, to assess the pattern of internet usage. A semi-structured proforma along with Young’s internet addiction scale was used. Results: Of the 382 adolescents who took part in the study, 150 (39.27%) were female and 232 (60.73%) were males. Their mean age was 16.20 years. Using Young’s original criteria, 22 (5.76%) were found to be addicts, 230 (60.21%) were moderately addicted, 45 (11.78%) were average users while in 85 (22.25%) of student’s internet use was less than average. Most of internet use was for social networking 183(47.9%), downloading media files 125 (32.7%), online gaming 45 (11.8%), academic purposes 10 (2.6%) and others 19 (5%). About 275 (72%) of the students were using smart phones to access the internet. Conclusions: Most of the internet usage was for the purpose of social networking (Facebook, Whats App, Mails, etc). Availability of high speed free wi-fi internet on mobile phones as well as more reliance on virtual friendship than real may be the reason for spending more time on social network websites. 


Author(s):  
Ravikiran Kamate ◽  
Sulakshna Baliga ◽  
M. D. Mallapur

Background: Internet addiction is not clinical diagnosis, but a potentially pathological behavioral pattern with symptoms: a loss of control over the behavior, preoccupation with the Internet, using the Internet to modify mood, and withdrawal symptoms. Easy access and low cost of Internet packs- are main cause of development of increased internet use in India. Internet addiction – factors like gender, environmental factors, socioeconomic status, etc. have effect on internet use.Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted during January 2016 to February 2016. Data was collected among 500 engineering students of four engineering colleges of Belagavi city using young's questionnaire. Analysis was performed using SPS 20. Chi-square applied as statistical test of significance for the association between age, sex, residence, SES and schooling. P<0.01 was considered to be statistically significant.Results: The present study revealed that 16.2 and 6.2% of participants had moderate and severe form of internet addiction respectively. With increase in age prevalence of addiction increased. Internet addiction was more among Males when compared to females. Addiction was seen more in students whose both parents were working.Conclusions: Internet addiction is an emerging form of addiction among students with males more than females mostly among engineering students who are dependent on internet for their work, carrier and completion of course Hence it's time to develop comprehensive intervention approach to promote healthy and safe internet use from family, college and peers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 1750
Author(s):  
Sowndarya T. A. ◽  
Mounesh Pattar

Background: Adolescents use the Internet for a variety of activities besides gaming; they frequently engage themselves with social networking, instant messaging, blogging and downloading information. Heavy Internet use has been associated with potential side effects, such as loss of control over the use of the Internet, adverse effects on other daily activities, emotional status and communication among family members. Objective of present study to assess the prevalence of Internet Addiction (IA) and factors associated with Internet use among Urban and Rural school students.Methods: A school based cross sectional study was conducted in the urban and rural field practice area of a medical college hospital in Mangaluru. Internet addiction was assessed using Young’s Internet Addiction Test.Results: The prevalence of internet addiction among urban school students was found to be i.e. 83.3%, while it was 78% in rural school students. Mild IA was common among both.  Male gender, smart phones and hours spent on internet were common risk factor for IA in both groups.Conclusions: Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT) is a simple and easy tool to assess Internet addiction among adolescent school students. Need to give importance of outdoor activity and community level education needed to prevent Internet Addiction.


Author(s):  
Cüneyt Ardiç ◽  
Sibel İnecikli ◽  
Celile Hatipoğlu

Background: Our aim in this study is to determine the level of internet addiction in medical school students and primary care physicians and the factors affecting them.Methods: A 68 physicians and 167 students participated in this descriptive study. The participants were administered the young ınternet addiction test, UCLA loneliness scale and asked to respond to survey questions about their ssociodemographic characteristics, and the relations were evaluated with appropriate statistical methods.Results: It has been identified that playing games online, surfing the internet aimlessly and loneliness score affected internet addiction regardless of other variables (p<0.05). A statistically significant correlation between addiction level and age (r= (-0.341), p<0,001), loneliness score (r=0,284, p<0,001) and online time (r=0,387, p<0,001) has been discovered.Conclusions: In this study, it was found statistically significant that students with internet addiction stayed online for long periods of time and it seemed in line with the criteria observed in substance use disorders such as longer duration of use than intended and not being able to spare time for other activities.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salih Boushra Hamza ◽  
Yassin A. Abdalla ◽  
Tibyan Hassan Mustafa Alkabashi ◽  
Ahmed A. M. Mustafa ◽  
Khadija Ala Abdelmaqsud Muhmmed ◽  
...  

Abstract Background:In general, the emergence of new technologies such as the internet, social networks and providing opportunities to facilitate and improve global communications quality have created some threats, as Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD), which is an emerging psychological problem across the globe. Young defined it as “an individual’s inability to control his or her use of the internet, which eventually causes psychological, social, school, and/or work difficulties in a person’s life”. Students are among the most critical internet and social networks, particularly during the coronavirus recent pandemic. The prevalence of internet addiction and its association with academic performance among Sudanese medical students has not been discussed yet. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the effects of internet addiction on medical students’ academic performance. Methods:This study was an observational descriptive cross-sectional study conducted on medical students at Omdurman Islamic University in Sudan from 321 sample size by stratified random technique. Data were collected using a questionnaire that contains four sections; the last one is the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), a 20-item scale that measures the presence and severity of internet addiction, developed by Young. Data were analyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 24. A P-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results:Out of 321 medical students, 186 (57.9%) were females, and 135 (42.1%) were males, with no general differences regarding the addiction score. Social media was the leading platform for internet use purposes (88%), mean internet addiction score was 47.7; most of the respondents (55.8%) fit into the moderate-level addiction. There is an association between the duration of internet time consumption and the IAT score, with 5-6 hour/day scoring the highest (mean 50.1 ± 14.3) (P-value 0.001). There is a significant association between platforms that consume most of the participant time and IAT score, with games scoring the highest (IAT mean 56.4 ± 15) (P-value 0.001). There is an insignificant negative correlation between Internet Addiction Test (IAT) grade and CGPA (p-value 0.07).Conclusion:The mean internet addiction score is 47.7, and most of the respondents (55.8%) show moderate-level addiction. The Internet Addiction Test’s application to medical students’ sample concerning the academic performance found no significant association between Internet Addiction Test score and CGPA score.


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