Effects of internet addiction on mental and ocular health of school students of district Amritsar
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20243769Keywords:
Addiction, Internet, Mental health, Ocular health, StudentsAbstract
Background: The popularity of mobile phones is increasing among students because of their multifunctionality as one click allows them to explore multiple applications providing new and varied functions. This excessive use becomes an addiction at later stages that has a negative impact on the mental health of the child. Further emission of blue lights from screens negatively impacts the eyes.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted amongst the students of 9th to 12th class students from 4 Schools of Amritsar where 92 students (23 students per class, 1:1 male to female ratio) from each school were selected using simple random sampling. Based on various symptoms related to ocular and mental health, 11 and 10 questions were framed respectively. The presence of symptoms was scored as one. The Mean was calculated; and anyone who scored above the mean was considered having a negative impact on the ocular and mental health. The association between internet addiction and its effects on ocular & mental health was calculated using the Odds Ratio.
Results: The prevalence of internet addiction was found to be 49%. Mental health problems were present in 45% of the participants. Ocular problems were present in 40% of the participants. Internet addiction was found to be associated with poor mental and ocular health.
Conclusions: 49% of students were addicted to the internet. Internet addiction was found to be associated with poor mental & ocular health.
Metrics
References
World Health Organization. Alcohol, drug and addictive behaviours unit. Available at: www.who.int/teams. Accessed on 23 August 2024.
Wikipedia contributor. San Francisc: Mother Jones. The 2010s were the decade of the smartphone. 2019. Available at: www.motherjones.com. Accessed on 12 August 2024.
Issa LF, Alqurashi KA, Althomali T, Alzahrani TA, Aljuaid AS, Alharthi TM. Smartphone Use and its Impact on Ocular Health among University Students in Saudi Arabia. Int J Prev Med. 2021;12:149. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/ijpvm.IJPVM_382_19
Nikhita CS, Jadhav PR, Ajinkya SA. Prevalence of mobile phone dependence in secondary school adolescents. J Clin Diagnos Res. 2015;9(11):6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2015/14396.6803
Acharya S, Adhikari L, Khadka S, Paudel S, Kaphle M. Internet addiction and its associated factors among undergraduate students in Kathmandu, Nepal. J Addict. 2023;2:8782527. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2023/8782527
Hamza A, Anand N, Sharma MK, Palaniappan M. Urban and rural pattern of Internet use among youth and its association with mood state. J Family Med Prim Care. 2019;8(8):2675-80. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_428_19
Younes F, Halawi G, Jabbour H, El Osta N, Karam L, Hajj A, et al. Internet addiction and relationships with insomnia, anxiety, depression, stress and self-esteem in university students: a cross-sectional designed study. PLoS ONE 2011(9):161126.
Ali S, Shah M, Qasim A. Effect of use of mobile phones on mental health of secondary school students. Int J Sci Innov Res. 2021;2(3):2724-3338.
Mittal S, Rana R, Puthalath A, Agrawal A, Gupta N, Mittal S. Ocular effects of mobile phone radiation. Indian J Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2022;8:66-71. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18231/j.ijceo.2022.013
Nayak R, Sharma KA, Mishra KS, Bhattrai S, Sah KN, Sanyam DS. Smartphone induced eye strain in young and healthy individuals. J Kathmandu Med Coll. 2020;9(4):201-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3126/jkmc.v9i4.38092
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
