Internet addiction and impulsivity among university students

Abstract

Introduction

The progress in technology adds to the new ways of communication between people. In our age, online communication has taken the place of face to face communication. People express themselves, become friends and in a way become who they are through the tools of social media. Many biological and psychological factors may affect the choice of people for communicating through social media.

Objective

Main objective of this research is to measure the frequency of Internet addiction and it's relationship to social media use and impulsivity.

Methods

The population of the study is composed of 117 female (58.5%) and 83 male (41.5%) students between 18–25 years of age from Uskudar University. Barratt Impulsivity Scale and Internet Addiction Scale were used for data collection and measurement of variables.

Results

Among the participants, 97.5% were found to go online everyday. Among the participants, 74.5% went online for social media use. Only 5% of the subjects fitted the criteria for Internet addiction. Thirty-six percent had limited symptoms for Internet addiction. Internet addiction symptoms and impulsivity were positively related. The tool for Internet access did not affect Internet addiction. Those who used a smart phone went online for social media use more commonly than those who used a computer.

Conclusion

It has been debated that social media and the increase in smart phone use may be affecting young people and increase internet addiction rates, however we have found that impulsivity is an important factor for internet addiction as in other types of addiction.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.