Internet Addiction: Prevalence and Impact for Medical Students on Academic Achievement

Background: In the present century of information and technology, Internet has become an indispensable part of our life. As they use internet for academic purpose, they may go online for enhancing their social life. Medical students' undergraduate curricula are among the most extensive and challenging in the world, covering nineteen densely packed topics. An intense dedication to academic pursuits and consistency are essential for topic mastery. The information and technology age has given way to a revolutionary one. For medical students it is even more important as we are in an era of evidence based medicine. Evidence-based education has been present for a long time, and not just in the contemporary digital era for medical students. On the other hand, medical research and health have always relied heavily on evidence. Students use internet for literature searches and for other relevant medical information, as it’s inexpensive and freely accessible.4 Scientific proof based on digital technologies is required to update themselves abreast the changing medical education.

In the current era of disruptions, over use of internet negatively impacts the academic performance of medical undergraduates. Some of the users may experience difficulty in reducing the duration and frequency of internet use gradually getting addicted to it.

4G is the next generation of internet service that has arrived in India. Because of the amount of time they spend online, medical students are an especially at-risk when it comes to problematic internet use. Their physical, mental, and social well-being may suffer as a result. Students become more involved in various online digital platforms and electronic activities as a result of spending more time online.

Focusing away from the subjects may indirectly affect their scholastic performance. Consistency and dedicated learning may get compromised as they engage themselves in online social platforms.

The literature on internet usage among Indian medical students is limited and there are hardly any studies from Kerala correlating Internet addiction and academic performance. The study aimed to determine the prevalence of internet addiction among medical students and its correlation with academic performance in a private medical college in central Kerala.

Methods: A cross sectional study was performed among first year to final year medical students. Their internet activities were assessed using Internet addiction Questionnaire developed by Kimberly Young. Academic performance was assessed based on the sessional marks obtained in respective subjects. Statistical analysis was done using software SPSS 20 and appropriate tests were used.

Results: A total of 381 students participated in the study. Out of them, females were 294(71.9%) and males were 107 (28.1%). Prevalence of internet addiction was found to be 61.4%).On further categorizing internet addiction based on score, 149 students (63.7%) had mild, 83 had moderate (35.5%) and 2 (.8%) had severe addiction. Using tables of correlation between continuous variables, internet addiction was found to be higher among males, those using Whats App and facebook accounts frequently and using internet for more than two hours a day. Internet addiction was found higher among students of intermediate batches as compared to students of first year or final year. Using analysis of variance, Academic performance was found to have a negative correlation with internet addiction.

Conclusion: Prevalence of internet addiction is very high among medical students and it has negative impact on academic performance. Male gender, duration of internet usage more than two hours, frequent use of internet for social communication and intermediate batch students had strong association with Internet addiction. Awareness is important to take up the issue at institutional level and implement measures to prevent it. Student as an emerging problem affecting student education, rehabilitation programs may be useful in future.