Prevalence of Internet Addiction and the Status of the Use of Virtual Social Networks in Iranian Teenagers and Youths in 2018

Background and Aim: Internet addiction as one of the addictive behaviors is associated with negative intrapersonal and interpersonal outcomes. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of Internet addiction and the status of the use of virtual social networks in Iranian adolescents and youths. Methods: The statistical population of this cross-sectional study included all Iranian teenagers and youths in spring of 2018. Iran was divided into 5 clusters (north, south, center, east, west) for sampling, then, a province was randomly selected from each cluster and the research tool was distributed voluntarily among teenagers and youths in the center of that province. The sample number in this study was 1491 people that responded to demographic characteristics and Yang’s Internet addiction questionnaires. Results: The overall prevalence of severe Internet addiction is 2.4 percent; regarding gender, 2.9 percent for boys and 2.2 percent for girls, and regarding age, 2.5 percent for teenagers and 2.3 percent for young people, but the differences were not significant. In the two groups of girls (2.2 percent) and boys (2.9 percent), there was no difference in terms of the average score of Internet addiction, while there is a difference between the two groups of teenagers and young people, and the average Internet addiction in the youth age group (2.3 percent) is slightly higher than teenagers (2.5 percent). Telegram, Instagram and WhatsApp are popular social media networks, and communication with friends and news awareness are the most important reasons for using virtual social networks. Conclusion: There is a small amount of severe internet addiction among teenagers and youths, but the important point in the present study is the high number of teenagers and youths who are involved in mild or moderate internet addiction.