Prevalence of Internet Addiction Among College Students

Abstract

The worldwide system of computer networks is known as Internet. Variety of Information and Communication facilities are provided by global computer networks. Internet is the most costeffective communications method in the world. Internet is mostly used for E-mails social networking online movies instant messaging online shopping gaming data or file sharing etc. To facilitate communication and research activities internet was originally designed. The use of internet in recent years has the dramatic increase in the usage of internet and leading to internet addiction1 .Objectives The study aimed to assess the prevalence of Internet addiction among college students and to find the association between internet addiction scores and the selected demographical variables.Material and methods Data were collected by using standardized 20 items internet addiction scale. The demographic variables analyzed in the study were age gender religion type of family family income and source of internet use. The samples for the study were selected by using the convenient sampling technique. The data obtained were tabulated and analyzed in terms of objectives of the study by using descriptive and inferential statistics.Results The result of the study showed that the majority of the students participated in the study belonged to the age group of 18-20 years i.e. 68 and the minimum i.e. 024 belonged to the age group above 22 years. The majority of respondents were female i.e. 4386 among which 2958 respondents were from christia religion. The majority of the respondentrsquos family income was above 60000month and majority of them were from joint family i.e. 4386. The respondents were asked regarding the source of internet use where majority f the students reported use of mobile data i.e. 2754 where remaining 2346 reported use of WiFi as source of internet. The findings revealed that 34 students i.e. 74 were under mild internet addiction category 12 students i.e. 24 were moderately addicted and 1 student i.e. 2 were severely addicted to the internet use. The findings also revealed that there is no association between the internet addiction scores and demographical variables.