Reality of the internet and social media addiction in Indonesian students

Abstract

The use of the Internet and social media today is inseparable from the life of modern society. This can lead to an addiction to the Internet and social media. This research aims to answer whether the phenomenon of Internet and social media addiction is a scientific reality or not in Indonesia, especially in Indonesian Students who are undergoing adaptation of the learning process from offline to online due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation. Data collection was conducted with a survey of 2002 respondents. Before the questionnaire was distributed, a validity test and reliability test with Alpha Cronbach's were conducted, and the results showed that all questions on the questionnaire were valid and reliable. Based on the survey results, 20.18% of respondents experienced mild addiction, 4.85% of respondents experienced moderate addiction, and 0.45% of respondents experienced severe addiction to Internets. While the survey results for social media addiction were 14.99% of respondents experienced mild addiction, 4.7% of respondents experienced moderate addiction, and 0.45% of respondents experienced severe addiction. Judging by the philosophy of science, Internet and Social Media Addiction are said to be science and not pseudoscience because it has fulfilled the characteristics of science that is logical, empirical, and can be falsified. There needs to be special attention from the Indonesians about the addiction to the Internet and social media so that this addiction can be anticipated and the inflicted symptoms can be minimized.