Changing Patterns in Internet Addiction Among Students: Before and During COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: In recent years, with the rapid expansion of Internet use, Internet addiction has increased. Internet addiction will be considered as a disorder worldwide in the near future and it is very important to prevent it from becoming an acute problem in the new era. Objectives: The current study was planned to assess changes in the state of internet addiction, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. Materials & Methods: The current cross-sectional study was done on university students (Medical Sciences and Islamic Azad) in southern Iran in October 2021. Standard Kimberly Young questionnaire was used to measure the status of internet addiction. A total of 379 students was selected through convenience sampling method. The link to the online questionnaire was provided to the study participants through the official educational programs, websites and official social networks of the universities. Paired t-tests, chi-square and ANOVA were used for analysis. Logistic regression model was used to measure predictive variables. Results: More than 65% of the people were women and 83.6% were single. Analysis of the standard internet addiction questionnaire showed that the average score of Internet addiction had increased from 34.44±14.10 to 48.47±17.72, which was significant (P<0.001). The duration of Internet use was also increased from 1.87±0.63 per day to 3.95±1.71 hours per day, which was significant (P<0.001). Conclusion: In general, it seems that the level of internet addiction among students has increased during COVID-19. Therefore, immediate public awareness measures are needed to monitor internet consumption. Since students are at risk of Internet addiction, early identification and implementation of preventive and control programs are suggested for this group.

Keywords

• covid-19
• psychological dependency
• internet addiction disorder