Understanding how medical students make sense of their relationship with the online world

Introduction: Internet addiction has been found to be prevalent in medical students, but only quantitative literature has been found in this area. Existing literature provides information about prevalence rates and associated risk factors, but does not allow for the elicitation of individual experience and the depth of information this brings. Further, no studies have been conducted with medical students in the United Kingdom (UK). The aim of this study was to explore how medical students in the UK make sense of their use of the online world.

Method: A qualitative method was chosen for this study to examine this area in more depth. Seven University of Leeds medical students were interviewed for this study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Interview data was analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Results: Socialisation to the online world was the overarching theme identified in this study. Four superordinate themes were also identified: transition to medical school life; trapped by the online world; feel a sense of belonging and connection; and the offline world is not as appealing as the online world. There were a number of subthemes identified within the overarching and superordinate themes.

Discussion: The findings are discussed in the context of psychological theories of Internet addiction and the wider literature in this area. This allowed for an examination of Internet addiction and whether this was what was being experienced by medical students. Strengths and limitations, clinical implications and recommendations from the study are provided. Finally, suggestions for future research are presented.