Internet Addiction among Secondary School Students in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume II, Issue XII, December 2018 | ISSN 2454–6186

Internet Addiction among Secondary School Students in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia

H. Nadhirah¹, R. Normala², Z.M. Lukman³, C. Azlini⁴, M.Y. Kamal⁵

^1,2,3,4,5Faculty of Applied Social Sciences, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia

Abstract—This present study aims to identify the level of Internet Addiction (IA) on the behavior of secondary school students in Kota Bharu, Kelantan. Internet usage is growing over time and as a result of its excessive use could lead to an addiction.A survey is conducted in Kota Bharu, Kelantan engaging respondents in a total of 422 secondary school students in the age range from 13 to 19 years old in answering the questionnaire provided related to this research. The level of Internet addiction is assessed by the Internet Addiction Test (IAT). The researchers chosea quantitative research method and results were analyzed by descriptive analysis. The results indicated, only 2.0% of respondents had experienced the high level of Internet addiction whereas the majority of respondents possess a low level of Internet addiction with a percentage of 64.0%. Responsible authorities must insert labor efforts in ensuring parents, teachers and adolescents are conscious about the alarming perils of IA. This study is expected to assist future research and current efforts to combat IA among secondary school students.

Keywords—Internet addiction, Behavior, Secondary school students

I. INTRODUCTION

Internet usage is increasing among school students [1]. In this millennial age, it is common to figure that schoolchildren are more likely to spend their time browsing the internet than engaging with parents and family members when they are at home [1]. Changes in cognitive and social development among secondary school students are prominent factors influencing their behavior in using the internet excessively[2]. Uncontrolled usage of the internet will result in addiction. Internet addiction (IA) has been defined as heavily disproportionate amount of time spent when surfing the Internet and is defined as the incompetency in controlling the use of the internet that later could be inflicted in psychological, social, family, school and employment disorders[2]. IA is a new kind of addiction that coming from the consequence of newly develop machinery namely technology and it inevitably brings negative effects to its users [3].

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