Internet addiction and academic performance among high school urban students

Authors

  • Priyanka Sharma Junior Specialists, Department of Psychiatry, District Hospital,Alwar,Rajasthan,India
  • Ashok Kumar Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Dr SN Medical College,Jodhpur,Rajasthan,India
  • Ramchandra Lamba Junior Specialist, Department of Psychiatry,Government Medical College,Sikar,India
  • Ankit Awasthi Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Government Medical College,Pali,India

Keywords:

Academic performance,adolescents,Internet, School students

Abstract

Background: Computer and internet usage has scaled up to massive level across the age groups globally over last few years. Internet serves as an important educational and recreational tool for adolescents. The objectives of the present study were to estimate the prevalence of Internet addiction and to study association between internet addiction and academic performance among 11th Standard English medium school students. Materials and methods:540 school students were enrolled for the study.Socio-demographic details,internet usage characteristics and details of marks obtained in board exams were gathered using semistructured pro-forma.Young’s internet addiction test (IAT) was used to determine presence of internet addiction. Data collected were subjected to suitable statistical analysis (student’s t-test, chi-square testand Pearson’s correlation coefficient).Results:Majority of the students were above15years old(71%),were males(72%),and were Hindus (97%). Around forty percent students were from science and commerce streams each whereas twenty percent students were from arts/humanities stream. The prevalence of internet addiction (IA)was found to be 4.81%. The gross prevalence of IA(including both Internet addicts and Possible Internet) was found to be 23.88%. The present study found a weak or mildly negative correlation between internet addiction and the academic performance of school students. Conclusion: Internet addiction is fairly prevalent among school students and it worsens academic performance. Educational interventions which favor safe internet use and limit its overuse and potential harm to individual and the society are the need of the hour.

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Published

2021-04-01

How to Cite

Sharma, P., Kumar, A., Lamba, R. ., & Awasthi, A. (2021). Internet addiction and academic performance among high school urban students. International Journal of Health and Clinical Research, 4(6), 237–240. Retrieved from https://ijhcr.com/index.php/ijhcr/article/view/1256