ADDICTIVE INTERNET USAGE AMONG SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

Addictive internet usage is an emergent social as well as mental health matter amongst the school students. However, internet is a widely using tool which is known to foster addictive behavior, and also the addictive usage towards internet threatens to develop into a major public health issue in the future in a rapidly developing country like India. The study is designed to examine the addictive internet usage among school students. A descriptive study was intended to examine the addictive internet usage among school students and data were collected from higher secondary students in a reputed school in Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala, India. The data was collected from all the 50 students in the school who are studying in higher secondary through censes method. For the purpose of collecting data, questionnaire was used through which socio-demographic data was collected and Internet Addiction scale by Kimberly Young (1998) was adopted. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient found to be 0.91. Several statistical tools such as t’ test, Anova, Correlation were applied, analyzed and interpreted.
Findings
Nearly half (48%) of the respondent have mild level of addictive internet addiction. More than one third (36%) of the respondent have moderate level of addictive internet addiction.