Prevalence of Internet Addiction: A Pilot Study in a Group of Italian Students

Abstract

Introduction

Internet addiction (IA) is considered part of the so-called “new technologies addictions” group, that in turn belongs to a wider, novel group of abnormal behaviors defined “no-drug addictions” or “behavioral addictions”. Similarly to substance abuse, there is the risk either to arouse symptoms like craving, tolerance and habituation either to develop a full-fledged addiction to the Internet.

Aim

The aim of this study is to examine the current pattern of Internet use and eventually of IA, as well as their main characteristics, in a group of high-school students from Calabria, a Southern Italian region.

Methods

Five hundred high-school students (42% boys, 58% girls, mean age SD ± 16.23 years) volunteered for this study. A specific questionnaire of 45 items with 5 possible answers ranging between “never” and “very often” on a Likert scale was developed.

Results

Most of the young subjects interviewed owned a smartphone with Internet, and claimed to spend more time online than at the beginning. Nearly everybody had an active account in a least one social network. A small withdrawal from social relationships and from sport activities emerged in this group.

Conclusions

Although about 10% of examined students presented IA symptoms, our findings cannot be considered representative of the total high-school population, these results underline the need of further investigation and awareness. In fact, many underestimated, vague, and other unspecific neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as alterations of sleep-wake pattern, chronic fatigue, headache, visual problems, carpal tunnel syndrome and eventually anxiety or depression may be underlying to an unrecognized condition of IA.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.