Single child family & problematic use of internet: exploring implications for the internet users

Author: 
Manoj Kumar Sharma., Nitin Anand., Ashwini Tadpatrikar., Prasad Kannekanti and Ameer Hamza

Background: Promotion of healthy use of technology among users has been a growing concern among the caregivers. Absence of other sibling and associated loneliness has been seen in relation to presence of problematic use of internet. The present communication is going to explore the problematic internet use & its association with single child families. Material & Methods: Treatment seekers at SHUT clinic (Service for Healthy Use of Technology) were assessed for exploration of the association of internet addiction and single child family.70 Adolescents and young adult internet users were assessed on internet addiction test and video game addiction questionnaire. Results: Users had internet addiction as well as video game addiction. Qualitative analysis revealed association between loneliness, free time and easy availability/accessibility of internet technology devices. Conclusions: The findings have implications for evolving a parenting module to increase the frequency of family quality time, quality family interactions with adolescents and young adult internet users and promotion of pleasurable offline activities with peers.

Page: 
341-344
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