Measuring the problem use of internet – internal structures and dependences

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to find some of the most important dimensions of the term “problem use of internet”. A questionnaire based survey among 579 students at secondary schools in Varna is conducted. The main examined dimensions are: time spent in internet, individual and emotional life, social life, home and school obligations. This paper raises the question of whether the students can be grouped based upon their internet experience. A clustering procedure is completed with variables of frequency of eight internet activities. Several cycles of hierarchal clustering are applied using the method of between-groups linkage with applied metrics for Squared Euclidian Distance. The F-test from the ANOVA table shows that the three most important indicators for the results of the clustering are: the frequency of game play; the frequency of socializing with other people online; and the frequency of shopping on the internet. Six clusters of people are defined.

Keywords

• internet addiction
• internet dependency
• hierarchal clustering