Mokshathaa Narendra Babu, Vishwas S
Community Medicine, Sri Devaraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research, Kolar, IND.
Epidemiology and Public Health, Sri Devaraj Urs Academy of Higher Education and Research, Kolar, IND.
Cureus. 2023 Jul 19;15(7):e42159. doi: 10.7759/cureus.42159. eCollection 2023 Jul.
Advances in technology and increased accessibility to modern gadgets have opened up new options for giving alternate recreational activities. The country has seen rapid growth in the smartphone market over the past decade, and mobile phones are preferred by the vast majority of gamers over traditional personal computers and laptops. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and related restrictions, online teaching, and the use of the internet for work have forced people to resort to the internet more than during the pre-pandemic period. There have not been many studies done to evaluate internet addiction (IA) and internet gaming disorder (IGD) among young people in India, and research is needed to quantify the magnitude of the problem and undertake timely public health actions.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 young people aged 10 to 24 years in Kolar district. Young people meeting the eligibility criteria from schools and colleges were randomly selected to include 67 participants per taluk. Standardized validated nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short-Formand 20-item Internet Addiction Test questionnaire were used to collect data. Data were entered using EpiData version 3.1 (EpiData Association, Odense, Denmark) and analyzed using IBM SPSS version 20 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY). A p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
COVID-19 control measures have caused more young people to access the internet in the recent past. Among young people studied, 58.5% and 6.5% have IA and IGD, respectively. Factors like living in urban areas, belonging to families above the poverty line, not living with parents, years of internet use, and increased access to internet/gadgets during the COVID-19 pandemic were significantly associated with IA and IGD. Since addiction to the internet and online gaming is known to have a negative impact on the mental health and well-being of young people, in light of IGD being listed in the International Classification of Diseases, there is an urgent need to target these conditions, especially for young people.
技术进步以及现代电子产品的普及为提供替代性娱乐活动开辟了新途径。在过去十年中，该国智能手机市场迅速增长，绝大多数游戏玩家更喜欢手机而非传统个人电脑和笔记本电脑。2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行及相关限制措施、在线教学以及工作中对互联网的使用，迫使人们比疫情前更多地依赖互联网。在印度，针对年轻人的网络成瘾（IA）和网络游戏障碍（IGD）的研究并不多，需要进行研究以量化该问题的严重程度并及时采取公共卫生行动。
在科拉尔区对400名年龄在10至24岁的年轻人进行了一项横断面研究。从学校和学院中随机选取符合入选标准的年轻人，每个 taluk 纳入67名参与者。使用标准化的经过验证的九项网络游戏障碍量表简版和20项网络成瘾测试问卷收集数据。数据使用EpiData 3.1版本（丹麦欧登塞市的EpiData协会）录入，并使用IBM SPSS 20版本（纽约州阿蒙克市的IBM公司）进行分析。p值<0.05被认为具有统计学意义。
COVID-19防控措施导致近期更多年轻人使用互联网。在所研究的年轻人中，分别有58.5%和6.5%的人患有IA和IGD。诸如居住在城市地区、家庭处于贫困线以上、不与父母同住、互联网使用年限以及在COVID-19大流行期间互联网/电子产品使用增加等因素与IA和IGD显著相关。鉴于已知互联网和网络游戏成瘾会对年轻人的心理健康和幸福感产生负面影响，且IGD已被列入《国际疾病分类》，迫切需要针对这些情况采取措施，尤其是针对年轻人。
