Internet Addiction: A comparative Study between Faculty of Nursing Students at Damanhour and Alexandria University

Abstract

Background: Worldwide, the number of internet users is dramatically increasing. Theinternet does pose some serious problems including; information divide, information pollution,and information insecurities as well as internet addiction. Aim of the study: Assess theprevalence of internet addiction among nursing students in Damanhour and AlexandriaUniversity, and compare between Internet addiction level among nursing students inDamanhour and Alexandria University. Subjects& Methods: Research design: Adescriptive comparative research design was used. Setting: The study was carried out inFaculty of Nursing, Alexandria and Damanhour University. Subjects: A 600 students wereincluded in the study, 300 students from each University. Tools of data collection: Threetools were used for data collection. The first tool was Socio-demographic and Health StatusStructured Interview Questionnaire for the Students. The second tool was Computer andInternet Use Assessment Questionnaire for the Students. The third tool was Young’s InternetAddiction Test. Results: The present study revealed that 57.8% of the students have mildinternet addiction followed by 17.7% who have moderate internet addiction, and 2.2% of thestudents have severe internet addiction. There is a significant relation between level ofinternet addiction and student's age, sex, the availability of laptop or PC and internet accessat home, using of phone for internet access, hours of using the internet, and scholasticachievement. The student complains of headache, blurred vision, low back pain, neck pain,shoulder pain, and finger numbness. Conclusion: Around sixty percent of the students havemild internet addiction and the minority of them has severe internet addiction. Male studentswere prone to internet addiction than female. Recommendations: Establish a special unit forcounseling about internet addiction and developing hotline services to guide youth in thediagnostic criteria and management.