Abstract

Background: The internet has become an essential part of our daily life. It has a positive and negative impact on people; for students, learning has become easier compared to older days as nowadays information is at their fingertips. However, internet addiction may negatively affect students’ life such as emotional instability, depression, poor time management, and poor academic performance.

Aims of the study: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence and possible risk factors of internet addiction among Al-Kindy medical students and its association with their academic performance.

Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted on estimated sample size of 306 students using Dr. Young's questionnaire. Online questionnaires by Google forms and self-administration using quota-sampling methods were used to collect the data, which was analysed using SPSS 25.

Results: The prevalence of internet addiction in this sample was high (68%). Age, gender, smoking, parents’ educational level, family members’ number and using internet with mobile were all insignificant factors. In addition, no significant correlation was found among different stages, but significant correlations were found between internet addiction and using internet for social media, entertainment, online games and online shopping (P-value .000, .000, .044, .038 respectively). Grades in the previous stage were negatively correlated with internet addiction (P-value .006).

Conclusions: The results of this study indicated a high prevalence of internet addiction among medical students of AL-Kindy medical college. The findings of the current study showed that internet addiction is negatively associated with the academic performance of students.

Keywords: Academic performance; Al-Kindy medical college; Internet addiction; Medical students; Prevalence.