Internet Addiction and its Effects on the Academic Achievement of the Students of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences: A Cross-sectionalStudy on Addiction-driven Behaviors

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Faculty of Health and Nutrition, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran

Abstract

Background: Considering that all activities are done using the Internet currently, the use of the Internet has turned into a necessity. Besides its various advantages, improper and excessive use has led to overt dependence on the Internet. We aimed to determine the effect of Internet addiction on educational achievement and its consequences.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was done on 298 students studying at Shiraz University of Medical Sciences during 2011. Data were collected using Yang's Internet addiction questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS software. A P < 0.05 was considered as significant.
Results: The total mean (±SD) internet addiction score was 31.26 (±11.53). 91.6, 6.4, and 0.3% of the students had normal, mild, and severe addiction to the Internet. We found a significant relationship between addiction to the Internet and variables such as chatting, sex, having a personal laptop, hours working with the computer, and hours surfing the Internet (P < 0.05). We found no significant relationship between Internet addiction and variables such as age, using personal emails, residential location, marital status, number of failed grades, age of beginning Internet use (P>0.05).
Conclusion: Currently, the lives of all people including academics, is connected to the Internet causing a massive change in various aspects of people's lives. Therefore, taking necessary measures that could result in the correct use of this technology is crucial I order to improve the society.

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