| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2020 | Volume
: 36
| Issue : 3 | Page : 191-195 |
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Prevalence and risk factors of internet addiction among the students of Banaras Hindu University
Manushi Srivastava1, Avadhesh Kumar2, Shweta Jaiswal3
1 Associate Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
2 Psychiatrist Social Worker, District Mental Health Program, National Health Mission, Varanasi, India
3 Research Scholar, Department of Community Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
Correspondence Address:
Shweta Jaiswal
Department of Community Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi - 221 005, Uttar Pradesh
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/ijsp.ijsp_82_19
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Introduction: There is enormous growth of Internet use in the last few decades, and it has a vast impact on people's relationship and behavior. Internet use by college students has been associated with frequent communication among friends and family members, but it has minimized the face-to-face interaction. Internet addiction does not imply as an intoxicant; it has been considered as an impulse. Internet addiction among students adversely affects their mental, physical, and social health. Objective: The aim of the study is to find the patterns of Internet use and prevalence and risk factors of Internet addiction among students. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on students studying at Banaras Hindu University (BHU). A total of 133 respondents (77 males and 56 females) were selected for the study by simple random sampling technique. Internet Addiction Test developed by K. Young and a semi-structured interview schedule were used for data collection. Results: The results of the study revealed that out of the 133 students, approximately half of the respondents (53.2%) belong to the 22–25 years' age group and less than half of the respondents (42.9%) were studying postgraduation. One-third of the students (33.8%) belongs to humanities and social sciences. It was found that 58.3% of students were having mild addiction and 20% of students suffer from moderate addiction of the Internet. Nearly one-third of the respondents (41.4%) were facing the problem of headache because of Internet usage. In this study, more than half of the study participants (56.3%) were using the Internet during night, and nearly, one-third of the respondents (42.1%) were using the Internet only for chatting. Conclusion: Although the prevalence of Internet addiction is less in the BHU, approximately one-fifth of the students were suffering with this. To conclude, it can be said that the Internet will be useful keeping in mind that excess of anything is dangerous.
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