Abstract
Gender roles affect some components of life and whether this difference persist in using advanced technologies such as computers and internet is unclear. Aim of this study was to compare the computer and internet using patterns among male and female physiotherapy undergraduates. Methods: Out of the registered physiotherapy undergraduates, 92 participated in the study with a response rate of 80%. A pre-tested self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from students in first to final academic years. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 20. Results: Out of participants, 37% (n=34) were males and age ranged from 19 to 26 years. Majority of 95.7% (n=88) participants owns a computer and 64.1% (n=59) mainly use it for entertainment. Females tend to seek more formal learning computer classes compared to males. Majority of study participants spend more than 8 hours per week to go online and values were 29.4% (n=10) for males and 25.9% (n=15) for females. Conclusion: A significant relationship was seen between gender and formal learning classes for computers. Usage time and purposes did not show any difference among genders. Internet was used mainly for entertainment and secondly for social communication in both genders.
Highlights
In the past few decades, with the advancement of telecommunication, the use of internet and computers has increased rapidly (Ajuwon, 2003; Bubric and Hedge, 2016; Internet society, 2019; Weiser 2000)
Highest internet users were found in Asia of 50.3%, in Europe of 15.9% and in Africa of 11.5% from the total users around the World (Internet society 2019)
Baseline characteristics Ninety-two students out of total 115 registered students from all academic years participated in this study with the respondent rate of 80%
Summary
In the past few decades, with the advancement of telecommunication, the use of internet and computers has increased rapidly (Ajuwon, 2003; Bubric and Hedge, 2016; Internet society, 2019; Weiser 2000). According to the internet usage statistics, the number of internet users in 2019 was estimated as 4.5 billion and was 58.7% of the total world population (Internet society 2019). Highest ratio between computer users and country’s total population was found in North America of 94.6% and second highest was 87.2% in Europe. Highest internet users were found in Asia of 50.3%, in Europe of 15.9% and in Africa of 11.5% from the total users around the World (Internet society 2019). Internet and computer use within Sri Lanka is rapidly increasing.
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