Internet Addiction and Shyness among Adolescents

Abstract

This study evaluated the effect of internet addiction on shyness among adolescents in and around Mysore City. The sample consisted of equal numbers of (360 each) boys and girls aged between 16 to 18 years and was chosen from 16 different schools and Pre-university colleges in and around from Mysore. The students completed an Internet addiction scale (Young, 1998) and Shyness assessment test (D’Souza, 2006).  Two way ANOVA was employed to find out the significance of difference between adolescents with normal, problematic and addict levels of internet addiction on shyness including gender effects. Results revealed that as the levels of internet addiction increased, shyness in various domains-cognitive/affective, physiological and action-oriented domains increased significantly. With addict and problematic level of addiction the shyness scores did not vary statistically. Female adolescents were found to be shyer than male adolescents in all the domains and total scores, except for physiological domain.  Implications of the findings of the study have been delineated.