Internet Addiction Pattern among High School Students of Jaipur City: A Descriptive Study
Abstract
This present study was conducted on high school students to find out patterns of internet use and prevalence of Internet addiction among high school students. Seven hundred students of three English medium schools of Jaipur city were selected by convenient sampling technique who returned the completed forms. Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT) Internet addiction or problematic Internet use was considered when IAT score was ≥50. Out of these 700 students surveyed, 250 (28.57%) students were having Internet addiction. Internet Addiction was found significant more (p < 0.05) in males, prolonged users, and younger age of exposure to Internet and high socioeconomic status than their counterparts. In near future Internet addiction may be an important clinical entity. It needs extensive research. All high school students must be screened for Internet addiction and vice versa.
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Introduction
Human is a social animal, he/she develops social networks to fulfill its needs and to make life easy. Social networking kept changing its forms with time according to available technology. Life got changed drastically with the birth of the electronics and Internet technology. People can communicate using chatting, messaging, e-mail, news groups and discussion groups. Growth of Internet has been very fast since its origin. The growth of Internet users has been exponential. Kimberly Young reported Internet addiction at the meeting of the American Psychological Association.1 This Internet addiction has been described in literature as ―problematic Internet use/PIU‖ also.2-3
Internet addiction has possibility that a new kind of compulsive activity is on the rise.4 People who are addicted to Internet can develop many types of disorder and one of the disorders that are common for the modern day is Internet Addiction Disorder.5
Young said that ―Internet dependence‖ is based on seven criteria adopted from definition of pathological gambling: withdrawal, tolerance, pre-occupation with the Internet, heavier or more frequent use of the Internet than intended, persistent desire to use the Internet more, loss of interest in other activities and disregard for the known negative consequences of the heavy Internet use. Considering the exponential rise of ―e‖ phenomenon worldwide, that is why probably DSM 5 kept ‗Internet Use Disorder‘ as a diagnostic entity in its appendix under substance related disorders, section III for further research.6
Research has also explored the connection of PIU and social phobia, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, self harm and ADHD.7-9 Research about PIU amongst school students are scanty especially from developing countries.
Conclusion
Internet addiction was found in more than one fourth of students. Duration of exposure of internet use, age at onset of starting internet use, rate of Internet use etc more important role in developing internet addiction. Internet is increasing so the Internet addiction seems to rise in future. So interactive activities such as chatting over social networking sites and gaming are the key factors that may influence problematic Internet use it should be under control.