Digital Media Usage and Prevalence of Internet Addiction among Undergraduate Students in South Africa

Abstract

Internet and digital media for educational purposes have significantly improved knowledge creation. The Internet has proven itself to be a valuable resource in the enhancement of knowledge production and dissemination. The purpose of the study was to establish how excessive non-academic use of the Internet detrimentally affects undergraduate students' daily lives. Using survey design, a total of 390 University undergraduate students comprising mainly adolescents/ young adults were selected using stratified random sampling at two South African universities, namely Fort Hare and Nelson Mandela. Data were collected using the Modified Internet Addiction Test for Undergraduates (MIATU), a modification of Internet Addiction Test (IAT) questionnaire. 282 (72.3%) use of the respondents indicated that they make use of the Internet daily with 34.8% spending more than 10 hours. More than 60% have access to at least two electronic devices. Most of the respondents stayed online longer than intended (x 2.88), slept less at night due to Internet use (x 2.63) and hence spent less time studying owing to Internet surfing (x 2.27). Furthermore, the amount of time spent on the Internet had a significant relationship with the level of influence the use of the Internet had on respondents (B = 0.250, t = 4.850, p < 0.05). The findings are indications that the excessive amount of time spent on the Internet served as a distraction from school work, a situation that put students at a disadvantage in as far as academic productivity was involved. These findings clearly suggest that the uncontrolled use of new media is both a hazard and a potential danger to academic productivity.

Internet addiction and associated factors among medical and allied health sciences students in northern Tanzania: a cross-sectional study

“…In this study, university students spending a long time (more than 5 h per day) on the internet increased the likelihood of internet addiction, which is consistent with findings from other studies [ 14 , 16 , 21 , 24 ]. An excessive amount of time spent on the internet serves as a distraction from schoolwork.…”

“…For instance, a study in Iraq [ 10 ] utilized an 8-item scale as opposed to the 20-item scale used in this study. In contrast, [ 16 , 21 ] utilized a modified version of the scale, and [ 5 ] used a different tool (i.e., Chen Internet Addiction Scale) to assess internet addiction. Higher prevalence may also be attributed to internet access using personal devices, considering that more than 70% of all respondents in this study accessed the internet using their mobile devices.…”

“…The higher prevalence of IA in this study may have serious implications for both social, mental, and physical health as well as financial consequences. The combined effect of these problems could have serious implications for academic performance [ 2 , 16 , 28 , 29 ]. For example, problems with self-care, difficulty in performing daily routine, pain and discomfort, anxiety, and depression were the consequences of internet addiction reported among young Vietnamese population (15–25 years of age) comprising a mixture of high school and university students [ 18 ].…”

“…However, other than academic activities, excessive gaming, internet-based gambling, sexual internet-based pre-occupations (such as viewing pornography), developing and sustaining intimate online relationships, entertainment and socializing or social networking through different social media platforms increase the odds of problematic internet use/ internet addiction [ 1 , 2 , 5 , 9 , 21 ]. Off-campus residence, longer time spent on the internet, frequency of internet use, and lower grade point average also have a significant influence on internet addiction in this population [ 4 , 14 , 16 , 24 ]. There is conflicting evidence on the differences in internet addiction among male compared to female students [ 5 , 17 , 20 – 22 , 25 ] though the former (males) are considered most at risk.…”

Comparative evaluation of internet addiction amongst arts, commerce, engineering and medical students

“…18 In another study by Salubi et al of all subject 282 (72.3%) of the respondents indicated that they make use of the internet daily with 34.8% spending more than 10 hours. 19 Patel et al observed that out of total 172 participants, 5.73% of students had internet addiction. More than half of the students with internet addiction were using internet for 5 years or more.…”