Prevalence of Internet Addiction and its Contributory Factors among Nursing Students

Internet is an integral part of modern life and it provides an easy and immediate way for people to explore information and communicate with other people around the world. It has become widespread in the lives of children, adolescents and college students in recent years. Loss of control over internet use, however might lead to negative impacts on individual psychological well-being, peer and family interaction, academic performance and daily life functions.

An exploratory study was carried out among 300 nursing students in selected nursing colleges in city Ludhiana, Punjab. Systematic sampling technique was used to select the sample. Data was collected with standardized internet addiction scale (Dr. K. Young) and structured checklist to assess contributory factors of internet addiction by using self-report method.

The study results revealed that most of the students 97.7% had an easy access to internet. More than one fourth addicted to mild internet addiction. More than half 180 (60.0%) nursing students were in age group 16–20 years. Contributory factors “Unlimited access to internet”, “Use internet as a way to escape problems”, “Get more respect online than real life” had significant association with internet addiction. Student's age, mother's education, father's occupation, quality of your parent's relationship had significant association with internet addiction.

Prevalence of internet addiction among nursing students was 70.3%. Majority of the nursing students were using internet on mobile phone. Most of the nursing students chatting was the purpose of using internet.