Internet Addiction in Freshmen Engineering Students in India

The purpose of this paper is to describe the process undertaken to evaluate the psychometric properties of a questionnaire developed to measure internet addiction in freshmen engineering students in India. A questionnaire survey was conducted using convenience sampling method, among 97 freshmen engineering students from four colleges in Mumbai, identified as over users by counsellors of their institutions. Factor analysis of the 16-item instrument yielded a threefactor structure with scale composite reliability above 0.7 for each of the factors and average variance extracted scores above 0.5. An Independent samples t-test also showed a significant difference in internet addiction by substance users (M= 31.34, SD=12.38) as compared to nonusers (M= 24.93, SD= 12.06; p<0.05). Programmes that engage students in meditation, yoga and intense physical activities should be encouraged so that students learn to encounter face to face interactions with real humans rather than the surreal ones behind their screens. It is also essential that parents, teachers and other authorities recognize changing behaviors among students and create an environment of congeniality where the individual can share his or her feelings openly.