Studying the level of Addiction to Internet among Internet Center's users of Birjand County in 2016

Given the increasing growth and importance of net and computer in people’s daily life, internet becomes more and more accessible nowadays. This global network is informative, exciting, interesting, and attractive. However, internet alongside its benefits has some disadvantages including internet addiction. Therefore, the present study aims to study the level of addiction to internet among internet center's users of Birjand county.
This is an analytical and cross-sectional study and study population includes all internet centers’ users of Birjand in the first half of 2016. To conduct this study, 250 net users were selected through random sampling. Data were collected by Kimberli Yung’s Standard Questionnaire of Internet Addiction Diagnosis. Descriptive and analytical statistics were applied for data analysis.
In the present study, 250 internet users participated that 51.2% and 48.8% of them were male and female, respectively. Samples were classified into 4 groups according to their scores in Yung’s test of internet addiction. The results of the present study indicate that 62%, 6.8%, 26% and 5.2% of users were respectively afflicted with minor, usual, medium, and sever level of internet addiction. Mean score of dependency to internet was 15.1± 42.12 indicating the minor dependence of samples to internet.
Given the high prevalence of internet addiction, it is suggested that this issue be taken into account. In this regard, health authorities should plan educational programs towards appropriate internet usage and culture.