Today at a time 2.8 billion people are online and 5.2 billion people are on mobile, the world has become a giant, globally connected village where all information ever created is just a click away [1].

Global phenomenon of technological progress and connectivity has not spared population from developing countries due to extreme infiltration of technology even into remotest tribal areas and all citizens are converted into Netizens. India had 432 million mobile internet users in December 2016, of which 269 million (62.3%) were from urban India and 163 million (37.7%) were from rural India [2].

The internet was originally designed to facilitate communication and research activities. Now it is used by many to seek information and for business transactions. On the other hand, it can be used by some to indulge in pornography, excessive gaming, chatting for long hours and gambling.

There have been growing concerns worldwide for what has been labeled as “internet addiction” [3,4]. First time in 1995 Dr. Ivan Goldberg proposed the term “internet addiction” for pathological compulsive internet use.

Young linked excessive internet use most closely to pathological gambling, a disorder of impulse control in DSM IV and adapted the DSM IV criteria to relate to internet use in the Internet Addiction Test [5,6].

Davis preferred the term “pathological internet use” (PIU) over internet addiction as addiction term mainly refers to dependency onpsychoactive substances. Scott Caplan suggested replacing the term “pathological internet use” with “problematic internet use” which is widely used allover now.

Connection of PIU between social phobia, depression, anxiety, substance abuse and self harm is well established now [7,8,9]. College students are vulnerable for developing dependence on the Internet, more than most other segments of the society.

This can be attributed to several factors including the following: Availability of large blocks of free time; courses that require use of gadgets and internet; the psychological and developmental characteristics of young adult hood; sudden freedom from parental control and monitoring; influence of peers; the Internet

1. Part I included Socio demographic information including age, sex, religion, income etc.
2. Part II included details regarding patterns of internet use such as place of access, gadget used for access, internet use hours per day, frequent web activities such as gaming, chatting, shopping, social networking etc.
3. Part III included Young’s Internet Addiction Test (YIAT). It is a 20-item questionnaire measured on five-pointLikert scale which is one of the most reliable scale for evaluating internet addiction.
4. Part IV included 7 item Health Questionnaire which is a self report of physical effects of internet/ electronic gadget use.

Confidentiality was assured and informed consent was taken.

Statistical methods: Data collected was entered in Microsoft excel and analyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) software (version 14.0). Frequencies and percentages were calculated for all the categorical variables. Mean and Standard deviation were calculated for all numerical variables. Chi-square test was used for analyzing categorical variables. P-value < 0.05 was considered as significant.

Scoring system: Prevalence of internet addiction was determined based on total score of YIAT. Internet use was divided into four categories normal range :<20 points, mild: 20-49 points, moderate: 50-79 points, and severe: 80-100 points

Ethical consideration and permission: The study was conducted after obtaining the approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee and permission was sought from the college authorities of all the colleges.

The mean age of the study participants was 20.25±1.3SD. Among them 48.3% were males and 51.7% were females.The mean age ofcomputer use and internet use was 10.01 ± 3.55 years and 6.61 ± 3.13 years respectively.

49.24% of the participants accessed the internet during night time. The socio demographic characteristics of the study participants are depicted in Table 1.

Table-1: Socio demographic characteristics of study participants (n=331).

94.86% (314/331) of the study participants had internet connection in their smart phones and it was the most common device used for accessing internet. 49.1% (162/331) of them possess at least two gadgets and they feel proud of it while using the device in front of others.

In the past five years, 19.93 % (66/331) spent less than Rs.10000 for buying gadgets, 21.75% (72/331) spent Rs.10000 – 25000, 25.98% (86/331) spent Rs.25000-50000, 22.35% (74/331) spent Rs.50000-100000 and 9.66% (32/331) spent more than Rs.100000 for purchasing gadgets.

Characteristics and pattern of internet use by the study participants is depicted in Table 2.93.1% (308/331) of the study participants said that internet helps in improving their academics.

43.5% (143/331) of the students said they visit

College students are vulnerable for developing dependence on the internet, more than most other segments of the society. This can be attributed to several factors like availability of large blocks of free time; courses that require use of gadgets and internet; the psychological and developmental characteristics of young adult hood; sudden freedom from parental control and monitoring; influence of peers; the internet offering a route of escape from exam stress, all of which make internet overuse a significant cause of concern for parents and faculty.

Professional course students are particularly vulnerable group on account of the time they spend on internet [6,7,9]. Observing these factors, it is important to study internet addiction in this subset of population. This study is an attempt to understand the degree of internet addiction among professional course students in KMCT Integrated campus.

The mean age of the study participants was 20.25 ± 1.34 SD. The mean age of computer use and internet use was 10.01 ± 3.55 years and 6.61 ± 3.13 years respectively. The male students were observed to be more addicted to the internet than the female students (p=0.005).

Sharma A, et al. in their study of internet addiction among professional course students in Jabalpur city of Madhya Pradesh observed male students to be more addicted to Internet than the female students

courses in being addicted to the Internet.

Significant relationship was also found between time spent on using internet per day and internet addiction (p=0.022) in our study.

The study of internet addiction among professional course students by Sharma A et al, only 46.5% students used smart phones to access internet. Also they found there was a significant difference present between students of various courses in being addicted to the Internet (p=0.010).

Significant relationship was also found between time spent on using internet per day and internet addiction (p=0.000) in their study [10].

Heterogeneous representation of college students and their systematic method in selection of samples tried to avoid bias in our study as participants were recruited from colleges with different academic settings.

However, recall bias could not be ruled out because it was a cross sectional study and participants were asked to report details of past exposure to use of internet; also they were self reporting and might have responded in such a way as to showthemselves in a good light.

In the last decade, internet has become an integral part of our life. The results highlight the vulnerability of professional college students to internet addiction. Prevalence of internet addiction using Young’s internet addiction test is 77.64% in mild usersand 15.64% in moderate users.

Duration of internet use plays an important role in developing internet addiction. Internet is increasing and internet addiction seems to rise in future. Awareness should be created among the students to improve ability to reduce the occurrence of internet addictionbehaviour promoting their healthy growth.