Impact of Internet Addiction on the Social Skills and Emotional Skills of Young Adults

Abstract

Internet being a relatively new technology, even though it has impacted the world and provided various benefits, it has also had its negative outcomes. Few studies have been conducted to study the relationship between technology and its impact on the present generation’s mental health. The aim of the present study investigates the impact of excessive internet usage on a young adult’s social and emotional skills. While Internet use is said to enhance social connectedness through social media, compulsive Internet use has been associated with poor social and emotional skills. In this research study, 100 participants aged from 18 – 25 were randomly selected with 47 females and 53 males and were given an online survey on the standardized scales of Internet Addiction Test and the Social Skills Inventory – Brief Form. After performing correlation and regression it was found that there was a negative relationship of -0.468 between internet addiction and emotional expressivity and a negative relationship of -0.355 between internet addiction and social sensitivity. Internet addiction also acts as a good predictor variable for emotional expressivity and social sensitivity.