Hosen Mohammad Jakir, Eva Shrabony Akter, Rahman Mohammad Mahfujur, Ibrahim Md, Lira Ummay Fateema, Hossain Asma Binte, Shill Manik Chandra, Uddin Md Jamal
Department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh.
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, North South University, Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh.
Heliyon. 2021 Jun 11;7(6):e07271. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07271. eCollection 2021 Jun.
The internet has become an essential part of our daily life. But excessive usage can have a negative impact on the physical health of its users. Over the last decade, the use of Social Media (Facebook) has been increasing rapidly and the younger generations getting addicted to it. But all possible health impacts of excessive use of internet are yet to be thoroughly evaluated, especially in such a developing country as Bangladesh. The present study aims to understand possible health deteriorations from excessive use of Facebook in a cohort of university students of Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 1186 students from two public universities and 1472 from several private universities of Bangladesh using a comprehensive questionnaire. The data were analyzed using the chi-square test to understand the association between Facebook usage behaviors and physical health status. We found that ~70% of the students used the internet for at least 4-6 hours/day, and ~27% of them used Facebook for >3 hrs. Students frequently use social media (mostly Facebook) for news and social communication. About 50% of the students reported wasting time on Facebook and going to sleep late because of it. Importantly, 47.3% students reported that excessive use of Facebook results sleeping disturbance and has a negative impact on the concentration of daily works/studies (p < 0.001). In addition, they experienced several other health problems, including worsening eyesight (71.2%), headaches (15.4%), back and neck pain (28%). Although not statistically important, a fair number of students sought medical attention due to the daily excessive use of internet (p-value = 0.112). These findings demands better understanding of the all possible impacts of using excessive internet among the University students, which can help take the necessary initiatives to encourage good use of the internet. Further extension of this study is suggested at all education levels to reveal the full scenario of degree of excessive internet use and its impact on the healths of Bangladeshi students.
互联网已成为我们日常生活中不可或缺的一部分。但过度使用会对用户的身体健康产生负面影响。在过去十年中，社交媒体（脸书）的使用迅速增加，年轻一代对其成瘾。但过度使用互联网对健康的所有可能影响尚未得到全面评估，尤其是在孟加拉国这样的发展中国家。本研究旨在了解孟加拉国一群大学生过度使用脸书可能导致的健康恶化情况。对来自孟加拉国两所公立大学的1186名学生和几所私立大学的1472名学生进行了横断面研究，使用了一份综合问卷。使用卡方检验分析数据，以了解脸书使用行为与身体健康状况之间的关联。我们发现，约70%的学生每天使用互联网至少4 - 6小时，其中约27%的学生使用脸书超过3小时。学生们经常使用社交媒体（主要是脸书）获取新闻和进行社交交流。约50%的学生表示在脸书上浪费时间并因此晚睡。重要的是，47.3%的学生报告称过度使用脸书导致睡眠障碍，并对日常工作/学习的注意力产生负面影响（p < 0.001）。此外，他们还经历了其他一些健康问题，包括视力下降（71.2%）、头痛（15.4%）、背部和颈部疼痛（28%）。尽管在统计学上不显著，但相当数量的学生因每天过度使用互联网而寻求医疗帮助（p值 = 0.112）。这些发现要求更好地了解大学生过度使用互联网的所有可能影响，这有助于采取必要措施鼓励合理使用互联网。建议在所有教育层面进一步扩展这项研究，以揭示过度使用互联网程度的全貌及其对孟加拉国学生健康的影响。
