Studying the Status of Internet Addiction among High School Students in the Southeast of Iran: A Descriptive Study

Introduction Internet addiction is one of the major problems of the modern world that has involved all walks of life and especially students. Studying the rate and the way of dealing with this problem seems to be necessary. Methods This cross-sectional, descriptive study was carried out on a sample of 190 high school students (out of 210) in Nikshahr, a town in southeast of Iran, from November 2014 to May 2015. The participants were selected using the simple random sampling method. The only inclusion criterion was voluntary and conscious consent. The required data were collected using a standard questionnaire consisting of two parts of demographic information (age, gender, and educational grade) and Standard Young's Internet Addiction Test that its validity and reliability had been previously demonstrated in various studies. The data were statistically analyzed in SPSS-22 software. Results The rate of answering to questions was 90%. According to the results, the mean and standard deviation of participants? age was 17.9?2.1 and most of them were in the range of 12-19. Girls accounted for the majority of participants (109 students, 57.4%). In terms of educational grade, most of participants (68 students, 35.8%) were studying in the third grade of high school. Mean score of Internet addiction for the studied sample was obtained 70.2, reflecting an intense reliance on the Internet. Most participants (98 students, 51.1%) had an intense reliance on the Internet. Conclusion Given the superiority of prevention over treatment and considering the fact that Internet addiction is a health problem for the younger generation and the future-builders of a society, taking measures such as training the students and adolescents on correct use of the Internet and increasing the information and awareness of patents about computer and the Internet for exercising proper supervision and restriction on their children seems to be necessary.