ONLINE ADDICTIONS AND THEIR REPERCUSSIONS- WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO GEN Z

Excessive or poorly controlled obsessions, impulses, or behaviors related to computer use and web access that cause impairment or suffering are referred to as addictive behavior. The disorder has gotten more attention in the public press and among scholars, and this focus has coincided with the rise in computer (and Online) usage. This study is an attempt to analyze the effect of online addiction on the psychological health of Generation Z considering the variables of depression and social isolation. The study also highlights web usage among Gen Z. Gen Z refers to the people who were born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s. A survey was conducted with a sample of 244 at Dehradun District, Uttrakhand The questionnaire developed by Young's (1998) test of internet addiction is used. The sample was collected on a 5 Point Likert Scale using simple random sampling. For hypothesis testing, Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test is used by SPSS. Online addiction is associated with dimensionally measured depression and indicators of social isolation. The findings of the study show a moderate to severe dependency on the web. The results of this study are only limited to the specific region of the study.