Eighty five percent of students think internet is responsible for mental problems
Currently, 94.1 percent of students are using the internet for their studies. 85.9 percent of their students think that internet is responsible for mental problems.
In addition, 52.6 percent of students are losing their attention due to the use of internet while studying. Students said that excessive addiction to internet use is losing their concentration in studies. 32.9 percent of whom are addicted to pornography.
These data have come out in a study titled 'Effect of Internet use on students' mental health: How much caution is necessary' by the private Anchal Foundation. Farzana Akhtar, a member of the Foundation's Research and Analysis Unit, presented the results of the survey at a press conference organized online yesterday.
Anchal Foundation president Tansen Roze presided over the press conference, among others Professor Kamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury of Dhaka University Clinical Psychology Department, Biplab Chandra Sarkar, Programmer of Information and Communication Technology Department and Deputy Civil Surgeon of Tangail Maruf Ahmed Khan were present. It was said in the press conference that this survey was conducted from February to May this year. 1 thousand 773 students participated in it, of which 49.5 percent were women and 49.7 percent were men. Apart from this, there is 0.8 percent of the third gender.
13.2 percent of the students surveyed were between 16 and 19 years old, 76.3 percent were between 20 and 25 years old, and 10.5 percent were between 26 and 30 years old. 72.2 percent of the students who participated in the survey said that they have faced mental problems at some point in their life. Among them, 85.9 percent of the students think that internet has a role behind their mental problems.
Of which 26.1 percent students blamed the internet entirely. And 59.8 percent students think that they are responsible. It shows that 94.1 percent of students use the Internet for their studies. But 52.6 percent lose their attention when they go online during their studies. Students said that excessive addiction to internet usage is ruining their focus on studies. For 34.3 percent of students, spending time on the Internet has a 'very negative' effect on their normal life and for 57.2 percent it has a 'somewhat negative' effect on their normal life. 91 percent of the students reported that they felt addicted to using the internet. Among them, 22.4 percent are 'highly addicted', 47.7 percent are 'moderately addicted' and 20.9 percent are 'slightly addicted'. 13.1 percent of the students who participated in the survey said that using the Internet made them self-centered. Apart from this, 25.7 percent said that time is wasted in unnecessary work.
58.7 percent of students do not get enough sleep every day. Among them, 30.4 percent students blamed their internet usage entirely for lack of adequate sleep. Apart from this, the issue of addiction to pornography has also come up due to internet usage. 32.9 percent of students view pornography or sexually suggestive content-related websites on the Internet. 10.4 percent of the students were disappointed by the success of others. Social media users are influencing the personality of students in various ways. According to the survey data, 27 percent of students lose patience, 26 percent suddenly get angry and 27.7 percent become silent. On the other hand, 30.2 percent of students feel that they feel lonely when they are offline. Anchal Foundation has given 10 recommendations to solve the problem.
The recommendations are: Launching 'Digital Literacy Program' in schools, colleges to ensure proper use of internet, providing counseling, therapy and educational programs to students to overcome addiction by setting up internet rescue camps, campaigning to encourage direct communication instead of dependence on internet in social and family communication, Providing digital literacy training with various socio-cultural and voluntary organizations, conducting self-awareness (self-care activities) activities at the academic level. Apart from this, conducting various activities including art therapy, clay therapy, story telling to help self-awareness and mental development, ensuring the availability of sports and gymnasiums, providing social skills training to increase social communication, ensuring correct lessons on sex at the family level and cybercrime. Strengthen awareness activities.
Professor Kamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury, Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Dhaka said, mental illness is created if mental problems continue for a long time. Majority of students do not use internet for productive work. The playground is shrinking. As an alternative, the internet is going to them. Apart from this, cultural practices have also decreased.