The Internet Use and Addiction by University Adolescent Student

Huda Hamzaa

doi:10.21608/pssjn.2017.33088

Abstract

Background: Internet addiction is regarded as risk-taking behaviors among adolescents. Dysfunctional use of the internet may interfere with the person’s social life, school work, and at certain occasions constituting a predisposing factor for the appearance of psychiatric disorders. Aim: This study was to assess internet use and addiction by university adolescent students. Subjects and Method: A descriptive research design was followed in this study. The subject of the study compromised 515 university students (311 were females and 204 were males), their age ranging from 18 to 19 years in all twelve faculties in Port Said governorate. The following tools were utilized to collect the necessary data for this study (Internet addictive behavior scale and personal data for the students and their parents) Results: The study revealed that, more than one-quarter of studied students was using the internet for 3hours and more per day. Severe/ extremely severe internet addiction levels were higher among female students and human sciences students. Conclusion and Recommendation: Most of the studied students were moderate of internet addictive behavior scale. Thus, the study recommended continuous educational programs for adolescents to teach them about the proper internet usage to avoid negative impacts on psychological status and replace the excessive use of the internet with health activity(such as sports). An educational session to parents about the supervisory role of the parents at home.

Highlights

The internet is a new tool that is evolving into an essential part of everyday life all over the world and its use increases, especially among young people
Life in an urban area was characterized by welfare and no workload on adolescents, they have more leisure time spent in using the internet. This interpretation is supported by Pawłowska et al (2015) who illustrated that the adolescents living in urban areas showed a significantly greater intensity of internet addiction symptoms, compared to those living in rural areas
The current results revealed that the excessive internet addiction level was high among female students

Summary

Introduction

The internet is a new tool that is evolving into an essential part of everyday life all over the world and its use increases, especially among young people. In spite of the widely perceived merits of this tool, psychologists and educators have been aware of the negative impacts of its use, especially the over or misuse and the related physical and psychological problems. Aim: This study was to assess internet use and addiction by university adolescent students. Conclusion and Recommendation: Most of the studied students were moderate of internet addictive behavior scale. The study recommended continuous educational programs for adolescents to teach them about the proper internet usage to avoid negative impacts on psychological status and replace the excessive use of the internet with health activity(such as sports). An educational session to parents about the supervisory role of the parents at home

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion