Note(s): Table 1 shows that that 51.3% were male (n = 157) and 48.4% were female (n = 148), with only 0.3% identifying as “other”. Most respondents were undergraduate students (82%), while 18% were enrolled in postgraduate programs. Regarding year of study, 54.9% were first-year students, 43.5% were in their second year and 1.6% were in their third year. In terms of hometown background, 53.3% belonged to urban areas, 7.8% to semi-urban regions and 38.9% to rural areas

With respect to residence status, the majority were day-scholars living with family (66.3%), followed by hostel residents (22.5%), paying guests (6.2%) and others (4.9%). The use of the internet patterns indicated that 49.7 per cent of the students spent 2–4 hours a day online. 26.1% reported 4–6 hours, 12.4% exceeded 6 hours and 11.8% used it for less than 2 hours. Notably, 94.4% of them used smartphones as the main means of accessing the internet, followed by laptops (4.9%), tablets (0.3%) and desktops (0.3%) being much less common