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 Table of Contents  
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Year : 2016  |  Volume : 2  |  Issue : 3  |  Page : 180-183

Burden of facebook addiction among the students of a health university in Eastern India


1 Department of Anatomy, IMS and SUM Hospital, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India
2 Department of Physiology, VSS Institute of Medical Science and Research, Burla, Odisha, India

Date of Web Publication6-Jun-2016

Correspondence Address:
Biswa Bhusan Mohanty
Department of Anatomy, IMS and SUM Hospital, Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University, K.8, Kalinga Nagar, Ghatikia, Bhubaneswar - 751 003, Odisha
India
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Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


DOI: 10.4103/2395-2296.179082

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  Abstract 

Background: In recent times, people are using a number of social sites to stay in touch with each other. Out of them, Facebook is one of the most popular sites. However, the students are using these sites too much which create an addiction in them. Aim: The present study aims to determine the burden of Facebook addiction among the students. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted among the Bachelor in Medicine and Bachelor in Surgery (MBBS), Bachelor in Dental Sciences (BDS), and Nursing students of a health university in Eastern India which included 399 students. Results: It is found that 7.2% of MBBS students, 8.5% of BDS students, and 5.1% of Nursing students are addicted to it and many others are at high risk. Conclusion: Excessive use of the social sites produces a definite addiction among the students as well as it affects their academic activity and personality badly.

Keywords: Addiction, Facebook, personality, social site


How to cite this article:
Mohanty BB, Jena SK, Das SR, Baisakh P, Panda SK, Chinara PK. Burden of facebook addiction among the students of a health university in Eastern India. Int J Educ Psychol Res 2016;2:180-3

How to cite this URL:
Mohanty BB, Jena SK, Das SR, Baisakh P, Panda SK, Chinara PK. Burden of facebook addiction among the students of a health university in Eastern India. Int J Educ Psychol Res [serial online] 2016 [cited 2024 Mar 28];2:180-3. Available from: https://www.ijeprjournal.org/text.asp?2016/2/3/180/179082


  Introduction Top


Nowadays, people are connected with family members, friends, and co-workers using various social networking sites. According to Walter and Riviera, social media is, “the relationships that exist between network of people” (2004). In the last 10 years, the online world has expanded dramatically. As a result, young men and women are now able to exchange their ideas, feelings, personal information, pictures, and videos at a truly astonishing speed. The most significant advancement was noticed in communication because of the advent of the internet and mobile phones. Seventy-three percent of wired American teens now use social media websites.[1] Every day, many students are spending countless hours in social media, one of the most widely used social network site is Facebook. It can be accessed by various devices such as a computer, laptop, iPad, tablet, and mobile phone, which helps people to stay connected at all times. Worldwide, Facebook has 1.3 billion active users, 829 million (computer) and 654 million (mobile) are daily active users as of June 30, 2014.[2] Though it helps students to develop important knowledge and social skill, along with that it has some side effects also. It is found in some studies that, excessive use of Facebook may lead to addiction.[3],[4],[5] Many researchers are carrying out research on the influence of social media on the psychology and social behavior of students.

Teenagers use these internet sites to contact their relatives and friends, share information, and showcase their social lives.[6] A study shows that Facebook users often experience poor performance academically.[7] According to another study, Facebook users devoted lesser time to their academic activities in comparison to nonusers did and subsequently had lower grade point averages.[8]

Aims and objectives

The present study was conducted to find out the Facebook addiction among students of a health university in Eastern India and to describe its effect on the physical and mental health of students.


  Materials and Methods Top


This study was conducted on the students of Siksha 'O' Anusandhan University, Bhubaneswar, which included Bachelor in Medicine and Bachelor in Surgery (MBBS), Bachelor in Dental Sciences (BDS), and Nursing students. The study was done during the period of January 2015–March 2015. Students from different classes were selected randomly. The students were explained regarding the importance and output of the study. The questionnaires were distributed among students and those who were not interested, excluded from the study. Those students were chosen had internet access on their computer or mobile phones. Thus, a total of 399 students were selected for this study. The age of the students was between 18 and 22 years. The study subjects were asked to fill up a pretested, structured preform [Table 2]. They were instructed to read the questions carefully and answer honestly. They were informed that the information provided by them would be kept in absolute confidence and for more confidence, they were asked not to disclose their names. The questionnaire contained some facts and in another part, it included 14 questions which had to be answered in the form of very rare, rare, sometimes, often, or very often which have the scores of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively. This was used to assess the Facebook addiction in the subjects.[6] Accordingly, the minimum score would be 14 and maximum would be 70. The scores were finally analyzed as follows:
Table 2: Burden of Facebook addiction among students

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35 = normal, 36–52 = High risk behavior, and 52–70 = Facebook addiction.

Validity of the items in the questionnaire was evaluated by content validity index (CVI). CVI of all items was from the range 0.87 to 1, shown that all items were appropriate and relevant for the study purpose. Reliability of the questionnaire was estimated by Cronbach's alpha (α) coefficient. Cronbach's alpha coefficient measures internal consistency of the items of the questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha coefficient value >0.7 is accepted for reliability of a questionnaire. The questionnaire used in this study had a Cronbach's alpha value of 0.952 signified that it had an excellent reliability.

Analysis of data was done by statistical software SPSS version 16 (statistical analysis, proprietary software, www.ibm.com/software/analysis/spss). Generation of tables and graphs was done by Microsoft word.


  Results Top


The study included 399 students (MBBS 176, BDS 135, and Nursing 88), out of which 174 were male and 225 were females, but 24 of them do not use Facebook. They use other social networking sites such as WhatsApp or twitter. All the subjects belong to the age group of 18–22 years. [Table 1] shows the type of social media used by the students and it has been depicted in graphical pattern in [Figure 1].
Figure 1: Social media used by students

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Table 1: Social media used by students

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It is found that 13.2% of males and 10.6% of females regularly update their status in Facebook account. 58.5% of males and 62.1% of females often/very often feel happy when other people like their status/photos on Facebook. The amount of subjects who often/very often like privacy while using the social site includes 15.1% of males and 12.1% of females. In addition, it is found that 13.2% of males and 9.1% of females often/very often feel a sense of wellbeing while using Facebook. Some students often/very often neglect their studies due to use of the social site which includes 11.3% of males and 3.1% of females. It is being studied that students use Facebook not only at their residence, but also in class hours. Though it varies from rare to often, still it includes 79.2% of males and 86.4% of females. It is found that 4.6% students prefer Facebook to their friends and relatives. Furthermore, it is seen that 20.8% of subjects feel a soothing effect on using Facebook when they are emotionally stressed. However, 4% of subjects feel envious by seeing better status updates of their friends. It is also seen that 12.8% of subjects have compromised their sleep for using Facebook. Using Facebook creates an addiction and it is calculated that 37.6% of subjects have tried to restrict the use of Facebook unsuccessfully and 20% of students spend more time on it than they intend to. Though 12% subjects feel emotionally stressed when they find a negative comment, still 20.8% of subjects feel that life without Facebook would be boring. The study revealed that more no. of BDS students are at high risk (15.6%) as well as addicted to the use of Facebook (8.5%) [Table 3].
Table 3: Distribution of subjects to show Facebook addiction

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  Discussion Top


According to the data collected from the questionnaire, it is analyzed that most college students prefer to use social media and spent vast hours in checking these social media sites. Facebook is very popular among college students as well as WhatsApp. Many students spent their time on these sites for entertainment and very few students preferred using social media to deal with their academic activities. 12% of the subjects admitted that they posted or responded on Facebook while completing homework or in class which has definitely affected their efficiencies and their grades. In a study done by Jacobson and Fortste, it is found that about two-thirds of the students reported using electronic media while in class, studying, or doing homework, which is found to be only 12% in this study.[7] A study done by Ohio State University reveals those college students, who use Facebook, had secured lower grades than students who do not use the popular social networking sites.[8] There is no scale available which is considered gold standard for measuring Facebook addiction. Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS) is one such scale which contains six core elements of addiction (salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse). Scoring “often” or “very often” on at least four of the six items may suggest that the respondent is addicted to Facebook.[6] The scale used in the current study had similar questions from BFAS. In the current study, subjects having Facebook addiction and high-risk behavior was observed more among girls which is similar to the study done by Ramesh Masthi et al.[9] Internet and Facebook addiction was more among singles.[10] Addiction was defined in terms of four Cs as markers – craving (continuous desire to engage in it), control (not able to reduce it), compulsion (where one feels one just has to use information technology), and consequences (experiencing effects - physical or psychological).[10] In this study, it is found that 7.2% of MBBS students, 8.5% of BDS students, and 5.2% of Nursing students are addicted to it [Figure 2],[Figure 3],[Figure 4]. In a study done by Balci et al., it is found that 5.1% of the students were addicts and 22.6% of the students were in the risky group.[11] Studies show that Facebook addiction is a common problem among young adults, less than 22 years of age than older people.[5] Women are more at risk of developing Facebook addiction, may be due to the social nature of Facebook.[6] Males were more addicted than females on internet usage.[6] Those who spent more time on social network sites also reported higher addictive tendencies.[12]
Figure 2: Pie chart showing risk of Facebook addiction on Medicine and Bachelor in Surgery students

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Figure 3: Pie chart showing risk of Facebook addiction on Bachelor in Dental Sciences students

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Figure 4: Pie chart showing risk of Facebook addiction on Nursing students

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  Conclusion Top


This study indicated that most college students prefer to use social media. Some of them spend many hours checking social media sites and are addicted to it. Social networking is definitely affecting their efficiencies as well as their grades.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

 
  References Top

1.
Oberst L. The 6S Social Network; 2010. Available from: . [Last accessed on 2015 Feb 22].  Back to cited text no. 1
    
2.
Facebook Newsroom. Available from: . [Last accessed on 2015 Sep 30].  Back to cited text no. 2
    
3.
Balci S, Gölcü A. Facebook addiction among university students in Turkey: “Selcuk university example”. Journal of Turkish Studies 2013;34:24.  Back to cited text no. 3
    
4.
5.
Lin JY, Le AN, Cheng SK. Social media usage and work values: The example of Facebook in Taiwan. Soc Behav Pers 2012;40:195-200.  Back to cited text no. 5
    
6.
Ellison N, Steinfield C, Lampe C. The benefits of Facebook “Fiends;” social capital and college students' use of online social network sites. J Comput Mediat Commun 2007;12:1143-68.  Back to cited text no. 6
    
7.
Englander F, Terregrossa RA, Wang Z. Educational review. J Educ 2010;62:85-96.  Back to cited text no. 7
    
8.
Karpinski A. A description of Facebook use and academic performance among undergraduate and graduate students. San Diego, Calif: Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association; 2009.  Back to cited text no. 8
    
9.
Andreassen CS, Torsheim T, Brunborg GS, Pallesen S. Development of a Facebook Addiction Scale. Psychol Rep 2012;110:501-17.  Back to cited text no. 9
    
10.
Jacobsen WC, Forste R. The wired generation: Academic and social outcomes of electronic media use among university students. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw 2011;14:275-80.  Back to cited text no. 10
    
11.
Kalpidou M, Costin D, Morris J. The relationship between Facebook and the well-being of undergraduate college students. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw 2011;14:183-9.  Back to cited text no. 11
    
12.
Ramesh Masthi NR, Cadabam SR, Sonakshi S. Facebook addiction among health university students in Bengaluru. Int J Health Allied Sci 2015;4:18-22.  Back to cited text no. 12
    


    Figures

  [Figure 1], [Figure 2], [Figure 3], [Figure 4]
 
 
    Tables

  [Table 1], [Table 2], [Table 3]



 

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  In this article
Abstract
Introduction
Materials and Me...
Results
Discussion
Conclusion
References
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