Internet Addiction, Emotional Intelligence and Anxiety in Youth

Abstract

With Informational Technological advancement, everyday new media is increasing the percentage of Internet addicts which appears as a potential problem in youth. Internet addiction according to DSM-5 is being observed as predominant problems in today’s youth. Research findings have proven that there exists a fine line between the time wherein we regulate technology and the time technology begins to govern our lives. Of the several voids that an individual encounters during the course of life is that of anxiety. At the time of it’s inception the internet had been confined to certain specific uses but with the passage of time it has reached a stage wherein the dependence of the individual has increased to an extent that it has become an obsession. Having said that, a brief explanation is required to support the statement put forward. When the individual under review shares a piece of information on the internet the thought process doesn’t end once the sharing is done, instead the notion of the circulation of the information tends to play on the mind of the individual making the person uneasy and anxious in terms of thought process. Moreover, a relationship exists between emotional intelligence and internet addiction assuming an internet addict to be low on emotional intelligence The present research has been undertaken to study the relationship between internet addiction, emotional intelligence and anxiety level of youth The study will be conducted on 50 males and 50 females (studying in colleges from Delhi and NCR), will be tested on Internet Addiction Test (by Dr.Kimberly Young) , Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A, . Br J Med Psychol 1959) and Emotional Intelligence Scale (Schutte, N. S., Malouff, J. M., Hall, L. E., Haggerty, D. J., Cooper, J. T., Golden, C. J., & Dornheim, L. ,1998). For this purpose, an appropriate statistical tool was used to analyze the relevant primary /secondary data Detailed results will be discussed in the full paper. It seems that internet usage is a boon for the society but may also prove to be a bane unless we focus on its positive, productive and controlling practices to manifest and promote its usage in the positive way for nurturing of values, ethics, personality, their psychological wellbeing and healthy lifestyle of youth themselves and their society.