Anxiety Disorders in Students Under the Influence of Computer Media

Abstract

The influence of the virtual world forms on sleep and emotions of users has been studied. The test group was comprised of 142 students studying information technology in one of the technical universities in Minsk. The structure of the virtual world forms used by the students and their combined effect on the sleep disturbances and formation of anxiety disorders has been analyses. It was established that 36,2% of respondents used to spend 40 or more hours a week in the virtual world. The majority of the respondents, 90,8%, is fond of computer games and devote to it about 55% of the time on average (100% is the total time spent at the computer). 78 students (54,9%) wake up due to fear and anxiety. The analysis showed that the number of people to wake up due to fear and anxiety among the users who combine computer games with watching movies is credibly higher: the criterion χ2 = 5,83.