EVALUATION OF INTERNET AND VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT ADDICTION AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS.

Abstract

Introduction: Internet is one of the main sources of information & virtual communication media and new technology. The prevalence of Internet addiction in young people can be seen as tantamount as drug addiction. It is discussed as a serious crisis in individual and social life, family relationships, educational status, unhealthy behaviors, reduction of self-esteem and susceptibility to psychiatric disorders. Considering public access to computers and Internet, a growing population of users and lack of accurate statistics in this field.

Material & Methods: This cross-sectional study group was comprised of two hundred one randomly selected students participate in this research. The first part of the data collection tool was a questionnaire included demographic information and the second part was Young's Internet Addiction Test (IAT), which has four levels: normal level (<21), weak (49-21), moderate (79 -50) and severe dependency (100-80). The data was analyzed using computer software SPSS 16 (ANOVA, % 95 confidences).

Results: According to findings of this study, 38.3% of students were in normal level. Dependency to internet was mild in 43.8%, moderate in 15.9% and sever in2%. Internet addiction prevalence in men was more than women, while there was a relationship between field of study, computer use and Internet access. Twenty seven point four percent of users don’t use internet for educational applications, and 67.5% addicted students use internet as an entertainment.

Conclusion: The results of this study show that it is necessary to pay more attention to this phenomenon as a widespread health problem facing young students and replace inappropriate an indiscriminate use of internet by desire use of computer, internet and it facilities through education in family and faculty centers.