Internet use and its addiction level in medical students

Abstract

Objective

To compare the Internet addiction levels between male and female medical students.

Methods

One hundred medical students (male: 50, female: 50) aged 17–30 years were included in a cross-sectional study. A standardized questionnaire was used to assess their Internet addiction level. Additionally, a self-designed questionnaire was used to identify the various purposes of Internet use among the students. The Internet addiction score (based on the Internet Addiction Test) was compared between male and female students by using the Mann–Whitney U test (p≤0.05). After knowing their addiction level, we interviewed students to know if Internet use had any bad/good impact on their life.

Results

The Internet Addiction Test scores obtained by the students were in the range of 11–70. Out of 100 students, 21 (male: 13, female: 8) were found to be slightly addicted to the Internet. The remaining 79 students were average online users. There was no significant difference between male and female students in the addiction level (score). However, males were more addicted than females. The major use of Internet was to download and watch movies and songs and to communicate with friends and family (76/100). Some students (24/100) used the Internet to assess information that helped them in their educational and learning activities. Some students mentioned that overuse of the Internet lead to insufficient amounts of sleep and affected their concentration levels in the classroom during lectures.

Conclusion

Medical students are experiencing problems due to Internet overuse. They experience poor academic progress and lack of concentration while studying. The main use of the Internet was for entertainment and to communicate with friends and family.

Keywords:

• addiction
• Internet
• medical students
• entertainment

Supplementary materials

To begin, answer the following questions by using this scale:

Among the following items, which one are your first and the last purpose of Internet use? Please number them in sequential order as in the scale.

Figure S1 Internet addiction test by Dr Kimberly Young.

Notes: The Internet Addiction Test is a reliable and valid measure of addictive use of Internet and was developed by Dr Kimberly Young. It consists of 20 items that measure mild, moderate, and severe level of Internet addiction. Total up the scores for each item. The higher the score, the greater level of addiction is. 20–49 points: Average online user. May surf the web a bit too long at times, but have control over usage. 50–79 points: Experiencing occasional or frequent problems because of the Internet. Need to consider full impact on life. 80–100 points: Internet usage is causing significant problems in life. Need to understand the impact of the Internet on life and address the problems directly caused by Internet usage. Prepared & posted by Dayu Internet Overuse Solution, the solution for Internet overuse and online addiction. An online version is available at http://www.internetoveruse.com/?p=171.

Figure S2 Various purposes of Internet use

Abbreviations: MBBS, Bachelor in Medicine and Bachelor in Surgery; MMS, multimedia messaging service.

Acknowledgments

Authors would like to thank all the participants and Ms Anupa Lamichhane (Technologist) for her help during the collection of data.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.