Study finds Internet addiction high in India

Chennai: While about 6 per cent of children were found to be affected by Internet addiction worldwide, it is higher in India with 7.1 per cent found to be addicted to the Internet. Doctors say that Internet addiction is an impulse-control problem that can negatively impact a person’s life, health and inter-personal relationships. They add that early intervention and better family system could avoid the problem, especially among adolescents.

“So far, the problem associated with Internet addiction was treated symptomatically and was considered as a condition. American Psychiatric Association has classified Internet addiction as a disease under psychological disorders this year,” says Dr R Balakrishnan, HoD, psychiatry, Sri Ramachandra University. He adds, “These people slowly go towards sedentary lifestyle, wherein they don’t do any physical activity and avoid going out. They easily get irritated and angry. The reason behind the problem for adults is the stress and tension due to the deadlines in achieving the targets in the office and family problems.”

An interest to explore everything leads to the problem among adolescents. There is no particular site that these children subscribe to. Starting from games, informative sites to porn sites, these children browse through anything and everything, he adds. About 10 per cent of adolescent children in the state have some kind of problems, he says.

Dr S. Rajarathinam, head, psychiatry, Kilpauk medical college and hospital, says, “The problem starts with emptiness, where the child feels lonely. It may be due to both parents working or parents not paying enough attention to the children, peer pressure and low scholastic performance. And, so, children try to get an unrealistic company that gives them pleasure.”

The student will have anxiety and stress. Complaints of addiction to video games, play station and cellphone are also on the rise, he adds. These problems are mostly found in children whose parents are working or who are separated. Monitoring by parents, parental care and proper family system will help overcome these problems, he points out.