Medical student Internet usage: is the literature correct to call it addiction? An opinion piece

Abstract

Over the past few years, there has been a sharp rise in the number of academic articles examining “Internet addiction” among medical students. This opinion piece views the Internet as a communication environment and a medical information tool within medical education. Within this context, the paper investigates the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) and criteria used in those articles, and questions their assumptions and conclusions. It then argues that what is often viewed as “addiction” may actually be dedication to work.

Keywords

• medical students
• internet addiction
• communication