OBJECTIVES: The purpose of the study was to understand the influence of socio-demographic factors and academic performance on Internet Addiction (IA) in students undergoing professional courses in Dakshina Kannada District in the state of Karnataka in India.

METHODS: Cross-sectional study design that used structured questionnaires as survey tools to obtain socio-demographic details. The data collection instrument was administered to 330 students studying professional courses in various universities across the Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. To assess levels of Internet Addiction, we conducted the Internet Addiction Test among the respondents. We evaluated the relationship between socio-demographic factors and Internet Addiction levels using Cross Tabulation tables. IBM’s SPSS 2.0 software was used for data analysis. A Chi-Square test was performed to determine the significance of relationships between socio-demographic factors and Internet Addiction levels.

RESULTS: We find mild and moderate levels of Internet Dependence in students undergoing professional courses. The Internet Addiction levels varied across strata of socio-demographic factors considered to different levels. We find a significant relationship between the Internet Addiction level and academic performance of students enrolled in professional courses.

CONCLUSIONS: Internet Addiction was found to be mild to moderate in students from professional courses in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. Internet Addiction significantly affected the academic performance of the students. We suggest actions be taken to reduce Internet Addiction before the menace worsens among students from professional courses, in particular.