DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2017.v05i02.017

Pages: 385-390

The Internet is a vital part of modern life and culture for so many peoples. Most of the college students use the internet for social interaction and communication as well as for their education. But, just as they use the internet to take help in their education, they use social sites to enrich their social lives. We hypothesized, internet addiction leads to poorer mental health status. The aim is to evaluate prevalence of internet addiction and its effect on their mental health status among college going students in nanded city. This cross-sectional study was carried out in Nanded city. To evaluate internet addiction, Young’s Internet Addiction scale was used and for assessment of mental health, General Health Questionnaire 12-items was used. Out of 287 study subjects, nearly equal gender distribution was seen. Mean age was 19.45 + 1.13 yrs. Our hypothesis was proven significant with OR 2.28. In our study, mild internet addiction was seen among 31.36 % of study subjects and moderate internet addiction was in 34.49%. There is a need to evolve a comprehensive approach combining periodical awareness to the students, integrating good practices of internet use.