Connect and disconnect: Internet addiction is disturbing Indore

Internet and social networking sites have created a virtual world, and Indore has been sucked into it. The networking is connecting people, which is a good sign in a nuclear family age. But it is also altering the behaviour of the urban population, at an alarming proportions.

A study conducted by students of MGM Medical College reveals that about 17 per cent of people find it very hard to stay away from internet (predominently surfing social networking sites) and about 15 per cent said that the over use of internet have affected their relationships.

‘Young’s’ Criteria’ was the study and a set of questions was used to indentify internet addicts.

Though the study was conducted on a small sample size of 242 people over a period of four months, its findings are significant and scary. It found that about 50 per cent people use internet on very consistent basis and 13 per cent are found to be ‘internet addicts’.

Psychiatrist Dr Razdan Ramgoolam said, “From an eight year old to a forty year old person, mostly everyone is obsessive of social-networking.”

Recently, an eight year-old boy was brought to Dr Ramgoolam for consultation. “His parents were worried about the boy’s addiction to social-networking sites. He has made 60 friends on a social-networking site and doesn’t go to school without his phone.”

On the similar lines, a married couple came to the psychiatrist due to their troubled relationship. “They have a kid too; the husband was addicted to social-networking and used to be imersed in his phone even at midnight.”

The doctors said, “Overuse of anything is an addiction and it adversely affects behavior.” It contributes to stress, lack of concentration, forgetfulness, poor performance etc.

The study was conducted by Abhineet Jain, Abhishek Sharma, Amrita Tripathi and Ankita Mishra under the guidance of Dr Sanjay Dixit and Dr Harish Shukla.