The correlation of Internet addiction towards adolescents' social interaction.

Internet addiction is a pathological condition that drives a person to use technology excessively. Internet addiction can cause problems among adolescents to lose interest in everyday life and triggers social interaction problems. Aim: explaining the correlation between Internet addiction and adolescents' social interaction. This study was a correlational design with a cross-sectional approach. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. Respondents in this study were high school adolescents aged 15–18 years (n=215). The independent variable used in this study was Internet addiction and dependent variable was adolescents' social interaction (social interaction between adolescents and parents, peer, school environment and community). The level of Internet addiction was measured by the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) by Kimberly S. Young and Griffiths. The data obtained were analyzed using the Spearman rho. There was a significant that relationship between adolescent Internet addiction and interaction with parents (r=−0.568; p=0.000), peers (r=−0.587; p=0.000), and school environment (r=−0.213; p=0.002) but there was no relation between Internet addiction towards social interaction of adolescents with the community (r=−0, 090; p=0.191). This study showed that Internet addiction could affect adolescent social interactions with parents, peers and their interactions in the school environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]