Prevalence of Internet Addiction and Internet Gaming Disorder Among Assiut University Students

Internet activities and technologies that are increasing rapidly have attracted young adults, leading to excessive use of the Internet and maladaptive Internet attitude known as "Internet addiction". The term "addiction", even traditionally utilized to describe a physical dependence of substances, has been applied to the excessive use of the Internet . Internet addiction disorder is expressed as too much computer use that contradicts daily activities and can harm daily function .

Internet gaming disorder (IGD) was included as a nonsubstance addiction in the appendix of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) published in 2013 by the American Psychiatric Association. The need to add IGD to this diagnostic manual was identified by an international expert working group that reviewed over 250 articles, some of which showed the detrimental effects of excessive gaming . As part of the DSM-5 approach to defining IGD, draft diagnostic criteria were proposed with some similarities to substance use disorders and added to the appendix of the DSM-5 manual, suggesting IGD was a condition warranting further research. The harmful consequences of excessive gaming were also recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), and gaming disorder (GD) was included in their 2018 release of the 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) .