Authors Upadhayay N, Guragain S
Received 19 May 2017
Accepted for publication 28 August 2017
Published 25 September 2017 Volume 2017:8 Pages 641—647
DOI https://doi.org/10.2147/AMEP.S142199
Checked for plagiarism Yes
Review by Single-blind
Peer reviewers approved by Dr Shakila Srikumar
Peer reviewer comments 3
Editor who approved publication: Dr Anwarul Azim Majumder
Namrata Upadhayay,1 Sanjeev Guragain2
1Department of Physiology; 2Department of Pharmacology, Gandaki Medical College, Pokhara Lekhnath, Nepal
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
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