Internet addiction and factors associated with it: a cross sectional study among students of a medical college in Davangere, Karnataka

Abstract

Background: India is not only growing in terms of population but also developing in terms of communication. Internet has become an essential tool for education, entertainment, communication and sharing of information. Excessive and undisciplined use of internet has led to emergence of internet addiction (IA), especially among students. The objective of the study was to know the magnitude of internet addiction among medical students and to determine the factors associated with it.Methods: The present cross sectional study was carried out over a period of two months among 138 medical students of SSIMS and RC Davangere. Data was collected using a pre designed, pretested questionnaire, with questions adapted from Young’s internet addiction questionnaire to test internet addiction.Results: In our study 30% students had mild internet addiction and 10% had moderate internet addiction. Male gender, internet usage of more than 5 hours per day and expenditure on the monthly internet pack of more than Rs. 400 were found to be significantly associated with internet addiction.Conclusions: More than one third of the students, especially males had internet addiction. It is essential for the parents and institutions to supervise the medical students and limit the time as well as expenditure on the internet usage.

Internet addiction and associated factors among medical and allied health sciences students in northern Tanzania: a cross-sectional study

“…University students who reported using the internet for social networking were more likely to be addicted to the internet compared to those who used it for academic purposes. This finding concurs with other studies [ 2 , 9 , 16 , 17 , 21 , 22 , 30 ]. Like in other studies, the most commonly used social media platforms in this population included Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Skype, WhatsApp, and Facebook, among others [ 2 , 30 , 31 ].…”

“…This finding concurs with other studies [ 2 , 9 , 16 , 17 , 21 , 22 , 30 ]. Like in other studies, the most commonly used social media platforms in this population included Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Skype, WhatsApp, and Facebook, among others [ 2 , 30 , 31 ]. These students could, therefore, be spending less time online engaging in academic activities, which are likely to affect their academic productivity or performance [ 2 , 16 , 28 ], which increases the risk of mental, psychosocial and physical consequences.…”

An era of digital slavery: a study on internet addiction among professional college students of Hassan, Karnataka

“…21,1 Similar studies showed that the magnitude of Internet Addiction ranges between 20% to 40% which is less when compared to our study. 1,2,[22][23][24] A study carried out among Engineering students in Tamil Nadu by Deepa Sankar et al showed a magnitude of internet addiction of 35% which is less compared to our study. 25 There is a statistically significant association between professional course and Internet addiction which indicated that medical students were more addicted than the engineering students.…”

“…This was consistent with those of most of the previous studies. 1,5,6,11,17,21,23 It also seems that male students are more likely to become Internet dependent because they are more experienced in using the Internet, receive less parental supervision and use the Internet for entertainment purposes more than females do. 17…”

How Have Researchers Acknowledged and Controlled for Academic Work Activity When Measuring Medical Students’ Internet Addiction? A Systematic Literature Review

“…In total, 98 studies in 102 publications met our criteria and were included in the study. Table S1 [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , ...…”