Internet Use, Impulsivity and Loneliness among School Going Adolescents

Abstract

The growth of technology and internet use among adolescents has been rapid and transformative, significantly shaping their social, educational, and personal lives. The online connectivity provides opportunities for creativity, access to information, and global communication. It also poses risks such as cyberbullying, addiction, mental health issues, and a decline in face-to-face social interactions. The present article is an attempt to examine the correlates of internet use among tribal and non-tribal boys and girls of Tripura. It also tries to examine gender and community differences in the level of internet use, impulsivity and loneliness among the school going adolescents of Tripura. The sample consisted of 1200 adolescents belonging to the age group of 15- 18 years. For data collection Internet Addiction Test (Young, 1998), Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (Patton et al., 1995) and R-UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell et al., 1980) were used. Results indicated that boys and girls differ significantly with respect to their internet use, impulsivity and loneliness. Further tribal and non-tribal adolescents differ in the level of internet use and impulsivity. The results also depicted that internet use of adolescents significantly correlates with their impulsivity and loneliness.