Background: Rapid expansion and proliferation of the internet has provided better opportunities for communication, information and social interaction although mobile phone usage has both pros and cons. The excessive, undisciplined, uncontrollable and damaging use by individuals has led to the emergence of the concept of internet addiction. Objectives: to estimate the pattern of smart phone and internet usage among professional courses students and to assess level of addiction among them. Method: A cross sectional study was conducted on the professional course students of MBBS, Nursing and Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) between 18 to 25 years age group in Jhalawar City, Rajasthan. Young’s scale of Internet Addiction was used for evaluation of internet addiction. Chi-square test was used for analysing categorical variables and student t test for quantitative variables. P-value < 0.05 was considered as significant. Result: Out of the 408 students, 142 (34.8%) having mild internet addiction, 36 (8.83%) moderate internet addiction and 07 (1.71%) having severe internet addiction. Young students ≤20 years were more addicted to internet. Most common causes of internet use were assessing of social sites (98.3%), movies & music (87.9%), games (86.3%) and search of academic related material (51.9%). Addiction to internet was more in boys and BE students. 227 (55.6%) reported that excessive use of internet affect their academic performance. Conclusion: Use of internet is widespread among professional students. Certain degree of internet addiction (mild to severe) was found among 45.3% of students and more commonly among younger age.

Background: Rapid expansion and proliferation of the internet has provided better opportunities for communication, information and social interaction although mobile phone usage has both pros and cons. The excessive, undisciplined, uncontrollable and damaging use by individuals has led to the emergence of the concept of internet addiction. Objectives: to estimate the pattern of smart phone and internet usage among professional courses students and to assess level of addiction among them. Method: A cross sectional study was conducted on the professional course students of MBBS, Nursing and Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) between 18 to 25 years age group in Jhalawar City, Rajasthan. Young’s scale of Internet Addiction was used for evaluation of internet addiction. Chi-square test was used for analysing categorical variables and student t test for quantitative variables. P-value < 0.05 was considered as significant. Result: Out of the 408 students, 142 (34.8%) having mild internet addiction, 36 (8.83%) moderate internet addiction and 07 (1.71%) having severe internet addiction. Young students ≤20 years were more addicted to internet. Most common causes of internet use were assessing of social sites (98.3%), movies & music (87.9%), games (86.3%) and search of academic related material (51.9%). Addiction to internet was more in boys and BE students. 227 (55.6%) reported that excessive use of internet affect their academic performance. Conclusion: Use of internet is widespread among professional students. Certain degree of internet addiction (mild to severe) was found among 45.3% of students and more commonly among younger age.