European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

PREVALENCE OF INTERNET ADDICTION AND PATTERN OF SOCIAL MEDIA USE AMONG ENGINEERING COLLEGE STUDENTS

A. Godson* and Y. Arul Prakash

ABSTRACT

Internet addiction commonly refers to an individual‟s inability to control his or her use of the Internet which eventually causes one‟s marked distress and functional impairment in daily life. The Internet is a widely used tool known to foster addictive behaviour, and Internet addiction threatens to develop into a major public health issue in the near future in a rapidly developing country like India. College students are especially vulnerable to developing dependence on the Internet, more than most other segments of the society. Aim: To study the prevalence of internet addiction, social media use and its impact among students of an engineering college. Method: A Cross sectional prevalence study was conducted among engineering students by asking them to fill the self administered Young‟s internet addiction diagnostic questionnaire. Result: In our study population (n=110), 56% are male students and remaining (44%) are female students. The mean age of the study sample is 20.6 years. The most frequently used social media is Whatsapp followed by facebook. Among the study population 28.18% (n=31) of students have internet addiction. Majority students with internet addiction are male 18.8% (n=20), remaining are female 10% (n=11). Co-morbid substance abuse is seen in 9 students with internet addiction. Conclusion: Prevalence of internet addiction is significantly high among engineering college students. Educational activities should be included for school and college students to provide awareness regarding judicious use of internet.

Keywords: Internet addiction disorder, Young?s internet addiction diagnostic questionnaire, social media use, substance abuse.