Investigating the effect of using internet and social networks among students of Kashan University of Medical Sciences

Internet addiction is one of the problems that has arisen with the advancement of technology, which has negative effects on people's physical and mental health. This study aimed to investigating the effect of using the internet and social networks in students of Kashan University of Medical Sciences.

In this cross-sectional study, 238 students of Kashan University of Medical Sciences were selected by stratified random method in 2019. To collect data, a standard questionnaire prepared by the professors and experts of the mental health center of the Ministry of Health was used. The data was analyzed through SPSS and using chi-square test.

The findings showed that 16.1% of students were addicted to social networks, which was 18.4% and 12.7% among women and men, respectively. Also, it can be mentioned that male students use more online and offline computer games than female students (P<0.05). The rate of use of dormitory students for searching news and surfing the web and downloading movies and music was more than students of living at home (P<0.05), also.

Considering that 16.1% of students devote at least 8 hours of their time daily to use the internet, this can be a reason for their academic failure. Hence, it is necessary to hold educational workshops about the advantages and disadvantages of internet.