Ramsey 1

Hunter Ramsey

Jackie Burr

English 2010 S. 5

11 April 2018

Internet Regulations; How they affect Internet Addiction

The Internet is essential, and good for human life and adolescents especially​.​ Vinod

Kumar Bhardwaj, from the department of psychology in the Maharshi Dayanand University in

India, introduces the necessity for the internet by explaining “[The] internet is invaluable for

adolescents who ant to find out more about personal, sensitive and embarrassing issues related

about their bodies, relationships and health” (13)​.​ Although it may seem harmless the internet

can become destructive​.​ Dre Parker, The Karate kid, states the effect of too much of anything

best by explaining “too much of good stuff, is bad stuff” (Karate Kid)​.​ Because humanity has

figured out that too much of the internet can be detrimental to someone’s health governments

have begun to put regulations to what people may view on the internet​.​ This report will look

into national governments and the Jordan School District to explain how they affect internet

addiction among those living in their governing domain​.

To begin the discussion, internet addiction has to be defined​.​ When defining Internet

addiction Bhardwaj uses many psychiatrists, other well known definitions, and many different

studies of internet relationships on self esteem, productivity and other well-being traits of

humans to create a definition of “an individual’s inability to control his or her use of the internet”
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(12)​.​ With this definition of internet addiction there are many arguable points to discuss​.​ First

being that many people may not realize that they have become addicted to the internet​.​ For

example, McKenzie Funk, author of​ I Was A Chinese Internet Addict, ​was asked many questions

related and unrelated to the internet before she was told she was an internet addict​.​ Questions

like do you have anxiety when you can’t get on the internet? Do you, get bored? Worry too

much? Feel Irritable? Feel like your brain is empty? (Funk, 66)​.​ General well-being of human

life has stemmed from these simple questions that seem unrelated to the internet but, have

become the realization for the need of internet regulations in governments and school districts​.

The United States government’s Constitution has a free speech amendment which

extends to the internet as well; meaning anything uploaded is viewable to any american citizen​.

The freedom of speech helps allow the United States to be called by one of its nicknames the

Great Melting Pot​.​ But even with the freedom of speech the United States have put regulations

on the internet​.​ Conrad Chan et al​.​, from Stanford’s Computers, Ethics, and Public Policy

program, further explains these regulations​.​ “Direct censorship of the internet is prohibited by

the first amendment with the exception of obscenity such as child pornography” (Chan et al​.​)​.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 also provided the United States with a way to

make legal actions against copyright infringement on the internet which is also a source of

internet censorship (Chan et al​.​)​.​ These actions were taken by the United States government to

protect citizens from legal dangers from access to the internet​.​ The United states cannot regulate

much more of the internet because of its free speech first amendment to the constitution​.
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Other countries such as Korea have looked more into the source behind the addictions​.

The research article ​The associations between internet use time and school performance among

Korean adolescents differ according to the purpose of internet use, ​found that there is a positive

correlation with longer internet use for study but a negative correlation with longer internet use

for general purpose or the addictive features of the internet (Kim et al., 1)​.​ Evidence found for

the prolonged use of internet for general purposes lead to consequences like decreased

performance in school​.​ Showing that the need for more regulations with school should be put

into place for students to have longer internet use for studying because of the positive correlation

it has to performance in school​.

The Jordan School District has also put regulations on their internet to help promote the

use of internet for studying for increased performance in school​.​ In an interview with Anthony

Muto, the Network/Technical Services Manager for the Jordan School District explain some of

the regulations​.​ “The Jordan School District uses technology such as content filter and Firewall

rules to limit what content students and staff have access too” (Muto)​.​ The Jordan School

District has also put regulations on staff to help mitigate their internet addiction as well with

students​.​ The Jordan School District also uses a Network and computer acceptable use policy

which everyone has to sign (Muto)​.​ The Network and computer acceptable use policy outlines

what unacceptable behavior is for users of the Jordan School Districts Internet:

Students may not intentionally transmit or receive material in violation of law or District

policy​.​ This includes, but is not limited to, pornographic, indecent or sexually suggestive
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materials, weapons, controlled substances or alcohol, or incendiary devices​.​ A student

may not be in possession of or use pornographic material on school property​.​ Users are

prohibited from posting or sending content that contains threats or is hatefully or racially,

ethically or otherwise objectionable (AA445)​.

Students who do any of these unacceptable behaviors are at risk of restricted access, suspended

access or have their internet privileges revoked (AA445)​.​ As the Jordan School District works to

help protect students from harmful material Muto believes this is also helping students who

abuse the internet and have internet addictions (Muto)​.

As school districts and national governments have begun putting regulations on the

internet the problem is seems to still be evolving rapidly​.​ Elizabeth Anderson author of the

United Kingdom’s Telegraph article ​Teenagers spend 27 hours a week online: how internet use

has ballooned in the last decade ​reports that “young people aged 16-24 spend more than 27

hours a week on the internet” (Anderson)​.​ The report also points out that almost every statistic

on internet use from earlier studies in 2005 and 2007 have increased​.​ Most notable are the use of

social media has tripled from 2007, and the time people spend on the internet while on the move

has increased by 5 times by 2005 (Anderson)​.​ Increased usage of internet continues to show need

for more regulations​.

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As the problem of internet addiction persists, and governments and school districts

continue to regulate internet use, a solution may not be attainable​.​ There are, on the other hand,

ways to help mitigate the internet addiction problem​.​ One way is to start internally​.​ This takes

personal effort of creating limits and regulations in personal internet use​.​ Setting a time limit of

personal use or using time to detox from the internet can be helpful to individuals who exhibit

internet addiction symptoms​.​ It may not cure the addiction, but they are steps in the right

direction to help individuals have better general health​.​ However, No matter the amount of

regulations the problem of internet addiction may never be solved​.

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Works Cited

“AA445 – Student Information Network Acceptable Use Policy” ​Jordan School District,

http://policy.jordandistrict.org/aa445/​ Web. Accessed 18 April 2018.

Anderson, Elizabeth. “Teenagers spend 27 hours a week online; how internet use has

ballooned in the last decade.” ​Telegraph.​ Telegraph Media Group, 11 May 2015. Web.

17 April 2018.

Bhardwaj, Vinod Kumar and Manju Rani. "Effect of Internet Addiction in Relation to Healthiness

and Well-Being in Rural and Urban Students: Comparative Study." Indian Journal of

Health & Wellbeing, vol. 9, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 12-18. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=127645236&site=ehost-live.

Chan, Conrad, et al. “Free Speech vs. Maintaining social cohesion” Stanford Computer, ethics,

and public policy. 2011. Web.

Funk, McKenzie. "A Tale of Modern Medicine." Harper's Magazine, vol. 314, no. 1882, Mar.

2007, pp. 65-72. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=24101778&site=ehost-live.

Kim, Dong-Hyun and Wi-Young So. "The Relationship between Daily Internet Use Time and

School Performance in Korean Adolescents." Central European Journal of Medicine, vol.

7, no. 4, Aug. 2012, pp. 444-449. EBSCOhost, doi:10.2478/s11536-012-0019-7.

Kosoff, Maya. “Study: 420 Million People Around The World That Are Addicted To The Internet.”

Business Insider ​Business Insider Inc., 20 December 2014. Web. 18 April 2018.

Muto, Anthony. Personal Interview. 17 April 2018.

“The Karate Kid. Dir. Harald Zwart. Perf. Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. Columbia Pictures,

2010.