A study on problematic Internet use associated with social anxiety among medical students.

Abstract

Introduction: Problematic Internet use is also called Internet addiction disorder, people who use the Internet for more than the required period. According to Young and Griffiths, there are subtypes of Internet addiction like excessive gaming-gambling, cyber sex, and social networking. Internet addiction can also exacerbate users' anxiety, loneliness, and other chemical addiction. This study explores Internet addiction and social anxiety among medical students. Materials & Methods: This is a cross-sectional study done at a Medical College in Hyderabad, India. 100 MBBS students in the first and second years of age 18-24 who gave consent were taken as subjects. A brief introduction of the study and tools were given, and data was obtained via google forms. Tools used were semi-structured intake proforma, internet addiction test, and Liebowitz social anxiety scale. Statistical methods used were Mean, SD, Chi-square, and ANOVA tests. Result: 100 MBBS students were included with a mean age of 18.88 years. 37% of average users of the Internet had complete control, 36% over users with frequent problems, and 5% internet addicts with severe problems according to young's internet addiction scale.11% have moderate social anxiety, 38% have marked social anxiety, 12% have severe social anxiety, and 10% have very severe social anxiety. High positive spearman's correlation between internet use and social anxiety (r=0.342, P<0.0001) was found. Conclusion: By studying the association between internet usage and its effects on human behavior, we can formulate interventions like detecting early warning signs of underlying psychopathology at the earliest, if any, setting boundaries, and providing psychiatric counseling if required.