Functional state of central nervous system in students with various online behavioral patterns

The life of any modern society without the Internet is impossible. Every year the number of Internet users is increasing, as men and women of all ages and nationalities surf the net. However, along with the advantages, there are also negative moments of worldwide Internet growth, e.g. Internet addiction. Many adolescents are becoming netaholics, and it is evident that the Internet undermines their health. The aim of the study is to determine the functional state of the central nervous system (CNS) in students with various online behavior patterns according to a simple visual-motor reaction. Materials and Methods. The authors examined 202 students, aged 12-17, living in the city of Abakan (Republic of Khakassia). We used Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS) adapted by V.L. Malygin and K.A. Feklisov to determine the online behavior pattern. A simple visual-motor reaction test was used to assess the functional state of the central nervous system. The test was performed on the Psychophysiological testing device-1/30 “Psychophysiologist", a hardware-software complex. Nonparametric statistics was used for data processing: Pearson's chi-square test was applied for qualitative indicators and the MannWhitney U-test - for quantitative ones. Results. The data obtained showed that a good functional state of the central nervous system prevails in students with various online behavior patterns. At the same time, teenagers-netaholics demonstrated lower indicators in the sensorimotor test in comparison with students with adaptive and non-adaptive Internet experience. Netaholics showed a decrease in concentration, attention span (accuracy and stability) and retardation (speed of response). Conclusion. Our findings indicate that despite a good functional state of the central nervous system predominance of CNS inhibition processes, fatigue, a decrease in mental performance and cognitive activity are peculiar to students-netaholics.