TO WHAT EXTENT DOES INTERNET ADDICTION AFFECTS STUDENTS DAILY LIFE?

Karan Nahar – Year 10

Global Perspective & Research
Ms. Mary Jane Sevilla
06 February 2019
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Introduction

“The internet is a worldwide platform for sharing information. It is a community of common

interest. No country is immune to such global challenge as cybercrime, hacking and invasion of

privacy”.1

Usage of Internet has been rising over the last few years and was estimated to be about 3.5

billion internet users in 2016 and more than 40% of the world’s internet users are in Asia and

China had more than 720 million internet users over the last few years.2 Using Internet too much

can cause internet addiction which can lead to psychological, social issues etc. Internet addiction

can cause health problems such as eye strain which could lead to bigger eye problem. Internet

addiction can also cause muscle problems. Social problems, losing social skills as being on the

internet and not socializing with people in real life, and could turn you into an introvert.

However, using the internet does not always result in a negative way but getting familiar with the

technology and using the internet can be very helpful. Internet can be used for educational

purposes and in the current generation, most of the students’ task and assignments and works are

done using the internet. Tables and statistic show that students’ GPA increased when using

internet for education purposes like research etc.3

I think this topic is important as the internet can be used for many things and the students

should know how to use the internet for good reasons and not to be addicted. The purpose of

1
Lu Wei, "Internet Quote," Brainy Quotes, June 2014, , accessed January 10, 2019,
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/lu_wei_763161?src=t_internet.

2
Kyle Gordon, "Topic: Internet Usage Worldwide," Statista, accessed January 08, 2019,
https://www.statista.com/topics/1145/internet-usage-worldwide/.

3
Asieh Garivani, "The Effect of Internet Addiction," NCBI, June 2016, , accessed January 8, 2019,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4949020/.
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writing this is to make people understand and acknowledge the threat of internet and how the

internet and can be useful if used for the right cause. My perspective on this topic is that Internet

is very important, especially in this generation, it has already become a necessary and could help

people, specially students in many ways. Stats and survey shows that students knowledge and the

ability to understand increased when using internet to work on certain topics.

Aim

Ever since the internet was invented, there have been more than millions of users. Every

individual use the internet for various purpose. Anyone who use internet can become addicted to

it and can also overcome the addiction. The purpose of this research is to give awareness to

people especially students how harmful the internet can be and how the internet can be useful in

our lives if used properly. The overall goal is to make people understand the seriousness of

internet addiction and how people can overcome internet addiction. These are the questions

related to the topic that will be answered:

 What are the positive effects of internet to people?

 What are the negative effects of internet to people?

 What should people do to prevent themselves from being addicted to the internet

I will conduct an interview with a person who uses internet daily. The expected outcome is

to find out the cause of internet addiction and how to prevent people from being addicted to the

internet.
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Context

Before the Internet came into existence, to communicate with someone far you had to send

them a note you had to send a letter through mail and could take a long time to be delivered.

With the introduction of the Internet, we now can send and receive messages through electronic

mail- virtually without the need of a postage stamp. Online communication has made it a lot

easier for the business owners to connect with their clients and partners from any place in the

world and using internet to communicate is more cost effective and have direct feedback. In

January 2018, the Chinese technology became the world's most valuable social network company,

with a market capitalisation of $540 billion. In 2018, the company’s revenue increased by 81% and

earned up 17.5 billion yuan from using internet like mail to communicate with customers and people

who are part of the business.

Anyone who is looking to make money but does not want to travel, internet is the perfect place to

make money. There are many ways to make money on the internet like online survey, online market

trading, creating own website and blogs, reviewing apps etc. Earning money through internet requires

a minimum effort or level of skill and does not require any investment. The most famous way of

earning would be through streaming or uploading content on websites like twitch or YouTube and

earn money from sponsors, ads and donations. A 27-year-old man Tyler Blevins earned more than 10

million dollars in 2018 from playing video games. More than 70% of his income came from people

viewing his twitch or YouTube channel, rest coming from sponsors.

Internet addiction is a serious health problem and can cause many problems mentally and

physically. Dr Jerald Block says that internet addiction should be officially recognised as a clinical

disorder. Internet addiction can cause problems like backache, headache, dry eyes, neck pain etc. A

recent study in USA shows that 4% of university students are having physical issues from using the
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internet for a long time which has also affected their study and other activities. Internet addiction is not

regocnised as a disorder which means that the students are not getting diagnosed and could be harmful

to people in the future as well.

Internet addiction can be an addiction in different categories. Social media addiction is one of

them. Using social media, you can meet different type of people who you know or don’t know.

Communicating with people who you don’t know online could result in a negative way especially if

the user is not friendly, you never know who is sitting on the opposite of the screen who you are

talking to. The user could use the social media to abuse or threaten you in many ways which is

cyberbullying. According to the Cyberbullying Research Center (CRC) 20,000 students in the UK

were victims of cyberbullying in 2007 and in 2016 the number had increased by 33.8%. Students says

that there were photos or videos of private information or information which the students are

unwilling to share posted on social media website This has also increased the suicide rate in some

countries due to being depressed.

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Method

I will conduct and interview to answer the sub-research questions in Aim section. The

interview will be with a student who has minimum knowledge about internet and IT and uses the

internet daily and I will ask questions related to the topic. I will choose a student who uses

internet daily because they would have experience and know about the different aspects of the

internet.

I will have my questions checked by my Global Perspective teacher, to conduct the interview.

I will a permission transcript so he/she would agree to do the interview without objection. I will

use a camera to record the interview and use it as evidence in the conclusion. I will include the

transcript in the appendix section.

The procedure is I will give the form to the interviewee and the information and instruction in

given in the form. The interviewee will sign the form which means that he/she agrees to do the

interview and has no issue. The interview will be conducted and the questions will be answered

and will be able to find the conclusion

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https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/lu_wei_763161?src=t_internet

https://www.statista.com/topics/1145/internet-usage-worldwide/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4949020/

Bibliography

Gordon, Kyle. "Topic: Internet Usage Worldwide." Statista. Accessed January 08, 2019.
https://www.statista.com/topics/1145/internet-usage-worldwide/.
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Garivani, Asieh. "The Effect of Internet Addiction." NCBI. June 2016. Accessed January 8, 2019.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4949020/.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/15/tencent-q2-2018-earnings.html

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/benefits-businesses-using-internet-322.html

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-542768/Internet-addiction-recognised-clinical-

disorder-psychiatrist-claims.html

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/internet-addiction

https://onlinedegrees.bradley.edu/blog/counseling-clients-who-experience-cyberbullying/