Abstract

Background: Technology has a high influence on our lifestyle. Due to this technology, the virtual life of Internet has taken,away the real-life experiences. This has significant bearing on both the physical and mental health of an individual. Students,too spend a significant amount of time on the Internet. Studies have demonstrated that this overindulgence can be problematic.,Internet addiction has an adverse effect on several lifestyle-related factors. Objectives: The objective of this study was to,assess the Internet addiction and associated risk factors among medical students.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional,questionnaire-based study was carried out on undergraduate medical students. Two questionnaires were administered to the,students. One was a general questionnaire, which was subjective in nature. The second was the Young’s Internet Addiction,Test.
Results: Majority of the students were using internet for <1 h (473, 65.4%). On analysis of the extent of pathological,Internet use among students, it was found that majority of the students were belonging to average Internet user category,(682, 86.3%) followed by frequently problematic user (97, 12.3%) and significantly problematic user (11, 1.4%) categories.,It was found that gender, purpose, place, and time of accessing Internet significantly affect the extent of pathological,Internet use among students. Family composition, parents’ addiction, and students’ addiction also play a significant role,in determining the extent of pathological Internet use among students. Conclusion: Internet addiction among high school,students in Kerala was mostly seen in families with broken family ties as in divorce. Hence, environmental stressors and,family issues have shown contribution to severe addiction among few students. The remaining students showed normal-tomoderate,dependence. However, the students need timely monitoring to prevent severe addiction.