PREVALENCE AND FORMS OF INTERNET ADDICTION AMONG YOUTHS IN KWARA STATE, NIGERIA
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Date
2017
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria
Abstract
A contact with contemporary youth will depict the extent to which they are attached to mobile devices which they relied on for various day-to-day affair regardless of where they are. The extreme use of internet could lead to a disorder called internet addiction. This study examines the prevalence and forms of internet addiction among youths in Kwara state considering the influence of gender and age. A descriptive survey research method was employed for the study. A total of 378 students in three universities across the senatorial districts of Kwara state participated in the study. Data were collected by a three-part questionnaire. Inferential statistics of t-test and ANOVA were used for testing the hypotheses at 0.05 levels of significance. The results showed that 6.9% of the sample is severely addicted to internet while 30.7 % are prone to addiction. The forms of internet addiction among youths in Kwara are cyber-related addiction, computer addiction, Net compulsion and cyber sexual addiction in varying degree. There was significant age difference in the prevalence of internet addiction. Similarly, significant gender and age differences occurred in the forms of internet addiction. Based on the findings it was recommended among others, that counsellors should develop strategies to handle internet addiction among the youths and work collaboratively with school administrators and teachers to identify and assist students with or prone to internet addiction before it will have devastating consequences on the addicts and the society at large.
Description
Keywords
Forms, Internet addiction, Prevalence, Youth
Citation
Mustapha, M. L. A & Muhammed, S. A. (2017): Prevalence and forms of Internet addiction among youths in Kwara state. Ilorin Journal of Education. 36; 102-116, Published by the Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin. Available online at http://ejournals.unilorin.edu.ng/journals/index.php/ije/issue/archive