Internet Use and Its Addiction Among Medical Students in Hyderabad, Pakistan

Abstract

Background: With the advances in information and technology, internet addiction appears as a serious obsessive condition that has numerous dreadful effects on human physical and mental health. The objective of the study was to determine the level of internet addiction among medical undergraduate students of Isra University, Hyderabad. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at the Isra University, Hyderabad from August to December 2019. All medical (MBBS) undergraduate students of either sex were included. A stratified sampling technique was used for the selection of participants. A structured 5-point Likert scale questionnaire for the internet addiction test was adopted from Dr. Kimberly Young and used for the collection of participant’s information and measurement of their level of addiction. Results: A total of 263 undergraduate medical students participated in the study. The majority (56.65%) were males while 51.71% were from the age group 21-22 years. Over two-thirds (85.17%) of participants were found to be internet addicts. Of these internet addicts, 63.84% were mild or minimal internet addicts while 12.05% were severely addicted participants. A statistically significant difference (p<0.05) was observed between gender, age groups, year of study, and current residential status of participants. Conclusion: Internet addiction was highly prevalent among undergraduate medical students, specially in the age group (19-20) years, hostlers, 2nd year of study and males