Chapter 1. Definition of Internet Addiction

      The extensive and intensive use of new technologies, especially among young people, has brought about a new reality, that of Internet addiction.

      Although this phenomenon has been reported for some years now, Internet addiction has become a “common” mental health problem.

      Addictions, especially behavioural ones, do not seem to distinguish between gender or age, and can occur at any time in life, although it is during adolescence that some of them seem to become more evident.

      Perhaps because there is a certain level of social permissiveness in young people to explore new behaviours, including risky ones, which are not allowed at any other age.

      Some defend this position by indicating that it is a way of discovering the world, but above all oneself, with its possibilities and limitations.

      Just like experiencing healthy behaviours, it is also when the first addictive practices appear, either substance or behavioural, such as Internet addiction.

      But if there is a particularly sensitive group among young people who are particularly sensitive to Internet addiction, it is university students, on whom a great deal of research is being carried out, although it is not clear whether it is because Internet Addiction has a greater impact on them, or because it is a particularly accessible group for research, in what some have called campus research, but what health problems does the Internet entail?

      This is precisely what is being investigated through research conducted jointly by the Department of Community Medicine, HiTech School of Medicine and the Department of Statistics, Utkal University (India), the results of which have been published in the International Journal of Advanced Multidisciplinary Research.

      The study included 100 randomly selected students between the ages of 17 and 23, 95% of whom were women.

      All of them were given a test to assess their level of Internet addiction through the I.A.T. (Internet Addiction Test) and another to evaluate the implications in the student’s emotional world through the P.A.N.A.S. (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule).

      Data was also collected on the time they spend on the Internet, the purpose of their use, the places they visit and the number of hours they spend surfing the Internet.

      The results show that 74% of Internet use is for personal purposes, while only 26% is for subjects related to their studies.

      With 76% of students aged between 2 and 4 years as users of the network, 93% showing non-intensive use of the networks, less than two hours a day.

      With respect to the places they visit, 23% do so on social networks, while the remaining 76% use it to explore the Internet in search of information related to their studies.

      Although this is a broad sample, it focuses exclusively on one type of technology career, so the results cannot be extended to other students in less technology-related careers.

      Likewise, and despite reporting that both men and women were included in the groups of participants, the data are not analyzed separately, so with this study it is not possible to know the incidence of Internet addiction in relation to gender.

      Despite having been evaluated, the results do not indicate the degree of students who are addicted to the Internet, nor do they explain the significant positive effects on mood that have been found in the use of the Internet.

      But if one thing should be noted is that the young people in the study spend too much time on “personal issues” that are almost exclusively focused on social networks, compared to those they use for their studies, where the use of the Internet is more widespread.

      This should also serve to reflect on the educational model, which is “distant” from the way in which young people interact in the network, and should be incorporated new strategies to “exploit” the possibilities of social networks.

      Nowadays it is difficult to think that a young does not has knowledge or an account in Facebook, Twitter or Tuenti among others, because they were born in the era of social networks, considering themselves to be “digital natives”, that is, those who were born after the eighties and who had little access to new technologies.

      Those who are older, those who were born before the 80s, have to make an effort to keep themselves informed and trained about social networks, and this is what is called “digital immigrants”,