Internet addiction and its effects on select psychomotor functions among adolescents

The Internet is being increasingly influential worldwide. It touches all the spheres of life from the main source of information to entertainment. It has become an important tool for communication. Increasing pervasiveness of the Internet in the lives of adolescents is well established and there by resulting in addiction. As new media are becoming daily fare, Internet addiction has become a growing social issue, it appears as a potential problem in adolescents by causing neurological complications, psychological disturbances, and social problems. This research work summarized the large body of evidence examining Internet addiction and its effects on select psychomotor functions among adolescents. A descriptive survey research design was employed and persons were classified as mild internet addicts, moderate internet addicts and severe internet addicts according to the scores obtained on Dr.Kimberly Young's Internet Addiction Test. The data was obtained from 360 participants and the effects of internet addiction on visuo-motor coordination, psychomotor speed, attention and auditory memory is analyzed. A one-way ANOVA, F results indicated mild internet addict, moderate internet addict and severe internet addict groups significantly differ in their visuo-motor coordination, psychomotor speed, attention and auditory memory among adolescents. Tukey's HSD post hoc analyses indicated that mild internet addict group has obtained greater mean percentage on visuo-motor coordination, psychomotor speed, attention and auditory memory compared to moderate and severe internet addict groups. A Two-way ANOVA, F results indicated the significant interaction effect of developmental span and internet addiction on visuo-motor coordination and psychomotor speed, However the results didn't found the significant interaction effect of developmental span and internet addiction on attention forward, attention backward, auditory memory forward and auditory memory backward respectively. Further, F results also indicated the significant interaction effect of gender and internet addiction on visuo-motor coordination and psychomotor speed, attention backward, auditory memory forward and auditory memory backward, However the results didn't found the significant interaction effect of gender and internet addiction on attention forward. Implications of the study were discussed in light of creating awareness about the internet addiction among adolescents in India.