Internet Addiction among Students of a School in Rupandehi District, Nepal: An Observational Study

Students use internet for various purposes like social networking, playing online games, academic purpose, etc. Excessive Internet use has been associated with adverse psychosocial development, social isolation, impaired social skills, anger and mental health issues. This study aims to find out the prevalence of internet addiction disorder among school going adolescent of a government school of Nepal.

An observational cross-section study conducted among students of Shree Shanti Model Secondary School after obtaining ethical approval from the Institutional Review Committee. Data was collected from 1 October to 1 November 2023. A convenience sampling method was used. A standard tool Young Internet Addiction Test (IAT) was used to find out if addiction was present or not.

Out of a total of 461 students, 137 (29.72%) had mild internet addiction, 21 (4.56%) had moderate addiction, and 303 (65.72%) had no addiction. The mean age of the students was 14.93±0.73 years. A total of 226 (49.02%) were male, and 235 (50.98%) were female. Out of total, 388 (84.16%), used mobile phones for internet access, and the main purpose of internet use was entertainment, reported by 255 (55.31%). YouTube was viewed by 266 (61.99%) users, TikTok by 77 (16.71%), and Facebook by 46 (9.98%).

This study highlights that approximately one-third of students in a government school in Rupandehi, Nepal, exhibit mild to moderate levels of internet addiction. The findings suggest that internet use is predominantly for entertainment, with mobile phones being the most common device used.