Bangladeshi university students identified as problematic users of Facebook, internet: Study

University students across Bangladesh were pin-pointed as problematic users of Facebook and other internet activities in a recent study which showed the issue escalated during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Problematic use of Internet (PUI) and problematic use of Facebook (PUF) have been linked to escalating behavioral health issues among students during the pandemic, according to the study titled "Investigating problematic uses of Facebook and other Internet activities among university students in Bangladesh during the Covid-19 pandemic" published on Nature, Tuesday (24 January).

Rural residence, study major, longer use of Internet for recreational purposes other than education, downloading movies/ TV shows, and failure in romantic relationships were identified as predictors of both PUI and PUF.

A cross-sectional online survey was undertaken among 1101 Bangladeshi university students between November and December 2020.

The Internet Addiction Test and Facebook Addiction Scale were used to assess PUI and PUF. Among the participants, PUI and PUF were found in 39.3% and 37.1%, respectively.

The study indicated PUI was significantly associated with participants residing in a village, arts majors, those unsatisfied with their major, having mediocre parental relationships, failure in romantic relationships, physical comorbidities, longer use of Internet for purposes other than education, using social media, and downloading movies/TV shows.

Whereas, PUF was significantly associated with village residence, lower income, arts majors, failure in romantic relationships, longer use of Internet for purposes other than education, and downloading movies/TV series.

The study was conducted by authors Abu Sayeed, Md Saiful Islam, Enryka Christopher, Abdullah Al Zubayer, Satyajit Kundu, Mohammad Raihan Tariq, Sadia Sultana, Md Hasan Al Banna, Md Hafizur Rahman, Md Shafiqul Islam Khan, M Tasdik Hasan and Kamrun Nahar Koly.

It was concluded with recommendations for targeted awareness programmes focused on said factors to be tested to see whether they would mitigate PUI and PUF among young students.

Besides, psychosocial education campaigns and other appropriate academic institution-led interventions need to quickly be disseminated to prevent further excessive Internet use as the impacts of the pandemic are long lasting, the report said.