Self-Reported Behaviour about Internet Addiction among Medical and Paramedical Students
LC10-LC13
Correspondence
Dr. Akila Ganesh,
7/16, First Main Road, Srinivasa Nagar, Kolathur, Chennai-600099, Tamil Nadu, India.
E-mail: drakilgans@yahoo.co.uk
Introduction: Internet has become an essential tool in day to day life. It has become an important and convenient mode for networking and information exchange. Excessive use of internet adversely affects an individual’s physical, mental and social health along with academic performance.
Aim: The present study aimed at determining the prevalence of internet addiction among undergraduate and postgraduate medical and paramedical students and also the effect of internet on gender.
Materials and Methods: This was a questionnaire based, cross-sectional study carried out among 1011 medical and paramedical undergraduate and postgraduate students of Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai. A questionnaire consisting of two components; basic demographic information of the participants and Modified Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT) was used to gather data. The normal users were categorized as non-addicts and mild, moderate and severe users were categorized as addicts. Descriptive statistics was calculated in terms of frequency and percentage. Inferential statistics was calculated using Chi-Square test.
Results: According to the findings, most of the students were mild internet addicts 590 (58.40%) followed by moderate addicts 239 (23.60%), normal users 171 (16.90%) and severe addicts 11 (1.10%). Prevalence of internet addiction was outnumbered by medical 112 (91.10%) students among all the other medical and paramedical specialties.
Conclusion: Internet addiction has become an emerging problem among the professional students, which has educational, physical and mental impact on student’s life. So, it is necessary to understand the importance of prevention of internet addiction, which is essential for promoting safe and healthy use of the internet.