Pattern of Internet Use, Addiction and Prevalence of Internet Addiction among Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Accidental sampling technique is utilized in recruiting 195 undergraduate students that participate in this case study. Data were analyzed at p=0.05, result revealed that, more males used the internet for research, more females used the internet for chatting, and more males used the internet for viewing pornography; the pattern of internet use significantly varied among gender based on the purpose of using the internet (χ²=11.131, df=2, p=0.004). There was no significant variation in the pattern of internet use based on time spent online per day (χ²=1.718, df=1, p=0.190); and number of days spent online per week (χ²=1.344, df=1, p=0.246). 47.2% of young undergraduates were average online users compared with 18.5% of older undergraduates; furthermore, 24.1% of younger undergraduates were frequent users compared with 8.2% of older undergraduates. Prevalence of internet addiction was not higher among younger than older undergraduate students irrespective of gender (χ² = 1.046, df=2, p= 0.593).36.9% males were average online users compared with 28.7% of females; more so, 20% of males were frequent users compared with 12.3% of females. A total of 1.5% of males had problematic internet addiction compared with 0.5% of females. The prevalence of internet addiction was not significantly higher in males than females (χ² = 1.069, df=2, p=0.586).Phone is the most preferred source of accessing the internet, Facebook is the most frequently visited site, participants mostly logged online at night spending between 1-5 hours and accessing the internet 5 days and above a week.