Internet Addiction, Shyness, and Self-Esteem of Pakistani Youth

Abstract

Internet addiction is the most rising tool of the present era. Undoubtedly, it has left a strong influence on the minds of youth. Like other parts of the world use of the internet is quite common in Pakistan. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between internet addiction, shyness, and self-esteem of Pakistani youth. 120 young students; male (n=60) females (n=60) were selected through purposive sampling. The researchers explored how excessive use of the internet brings problems and how all these problems reflect in their behavior. It highlighted how at this point, emerges the significance of self-esteem and shyness. Internet Addiction Test (IAT) developed by Dr. Kimberly Young (1998), the collective self-esteem scale (CSES) developed by Riia Luhtanen and Jennifer Crooker, 1992 and 1994, and Shyness scale developed by Cheek & Melichor (1985) were used in the present study to measure internet addiction self-esteem and shyness of Pakistani youth. The results of the study indicated that all study variables have a significant positive correlation with each other. It is found that female students have significantly higher scores on shyness as compared to male students and students of private institutes have significantly higher scores on internet addiction than students of public institutes. One of the reasons may be that students of private institutes have more easy access to the internet as compared to public students. The present study indicated that master’s level students have significantly higher scores on private collective self-esteem and shyness as compared to bachelor’s students.