A cross-sectional study to assess internet addiction among medical undergraduate students of government medical college in Agra, India

Background: Internet has become an essential part of one’s life in this modern era where technology is taking over the world. Risk of Internet addiction (IA) has increased in this year 2020, due to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, where most of time students are restricted to their homes thus relying on social media to be in touch with outer world, moreover surfing of web, as well as online learning practices increased their screen and internet exposure time. Hence, we conducted a study to assess internet addiction among medical undergraduate students of Government Medical College in Agra.Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 600 medical undergraduate students of S.N. Medical College, Agra. A self-administered, pre-validated questionnaire was used and a total of 488 students responded. E-questionnaire consist of questions about demographic information and internet usage pattern, it also contains Young’s IA test scale to measure internet addiction. Data obtained was analyzed and inferences were drawn.Results: The prevalence of IA was 61.5%. Mean ± Standard deviation (SD) age of the participants was 22.27±1.59 years and 48.36% were males. IA was significantly associated with male students, higher family income group and higher year of academic course. IA was also statistically significant with higher number of years since using internet, greater screen and internet usage time.Conclusion: Internet addiction is a growing problem among students of professional courses especially in medical colleges. IA has psychological, physical, and social impact on student’s life. So, it is necessary to develop strategies for prevention of internet addiction.