LANDSCAPES OF INTERNET ACCESS: A QUALITATIVE STUDY

A Qualitative Research Presented to

The Senior High School Department

Malayan Colleges Mindanao

Brito, Cyd Christian O.

Madayag, Euan Angelo B.

Remolisan, Kent John Philip B.

Dela Cruz, Angelika Heart D,

Sarabillo, Jamea James Marie M.

January 2020
 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

 The Internet is one of the greatest things that humans invented.

According to Akintomide & Ademodi (2013), the internet is one of the greatest

inventions in the modern generation. It succeeded way beyond the inventor’s

dream. It is a superhighway for many factors. Everyday, people use the internet

to make their lives more comfortable and easier. Individuals are dependent on

the internet, whether for information or communication. It has managed to enter

virtually every factor of human existence, importantly it changes the way people

act in their everyday lives. In addition, the internet plays a vital role in our lives

and culture, and it affected people of different ages. There are tons of activities

and entertainment you can do on the internet, and these activities can affect an

individual's life, such as social media, online gaming, online shopping, etc. 

The number of people that use the internet worldwide has risen these past

few years. Presently, based on the latest information published by Internet World

Stats, there are roughly 2 billion people worldwide having Internet access. Using

the internet will open your eyes to different worlds. In Bangladesh, 32% of

children are experiencing cyberbullying between the ages of 10 and 17, they are

vulnerable against online violence, cyberbullying, and advanced provocation,

stated by the recent data given by United Nations International Children's

Emergency Fund (2019). About 25% of the children ages 10-17 started using the

digital world before turning 11. It is even more alarming that 63% of the majority 
use their own room as the primary internet usage point, implying the prevalence

of a “bedroom culture” which permits less supervised internet use.

The Internet intersects the boundaries of both the national and cultural

wall. The Philippines also embrace the internet, like the rest of the universe.

According to the data stated by the Broadband Commission (2012), 29% of the

Filipinos have Internet access in their houses, two out of three Filipinos utilize the

IIn addition, according to the report of Digital 2019 (2019), the users from the

Philippines are the world’s heavy users of the internet in 2018. Filipinos are

declared to be the most active users on various social network sites, for example,

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. The utilization of social networking

sites has become so broad that the nation is presently called “The Social

Networking sites”. 

In the Philippines, Davao City is one of the fastest rising economies in the

country, Internet banking is prevalent in the local community. The coming of

internet banking gives new spots of opportunities for bank customers. In Davao

City the council, amended section 8 of Davao City Welfare Code, services shall

not offer gaming services to children during school days. Since youngsters

nowadays are now addicted to the internet, and they neglected their education,

they implemented that order, to discipline and help the students of the local

community (Llemit, 2019). Furthermore, the Information Communications and

Technology Office (ICTO) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)

and the Internet Café Association of Davao (ICAD) stated that they will maximize
the use of technology such as the internet to generate jobs and promote

entrepreneurship. 

There being said, that the internet has advantages and disadvantages to

human beings in different ages. The Internet has changed the way for finding and

searching data and information. In addition to that, the Internet changed the view

and perspectives of people in some ways, and it also affects their daily life.

Furthermore, individuals use the internet in a various manner, and lots of people

have different views about the internet whether it is positive or negative. That is

why there is a need to conduct a study which looks about the landscapes of

internet access because of lack of study in the local area. 

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

This research is carried out in order to know the internet access

specifically by the students, according to how they use the internet. This study

will focus specifically on answering the following questions:

Research Questions

This research is carried out in order to know what are the experiences of

people on having internet access specifically by the students, according to their

perception and experiences. This study will focus specifically on answering the

following questions:

 How do the participants utilize the internet?

 What are the common sites that students access on the internet?

 What are the challenges they encountered in using the internet?

Theoretical Framework

While major themes and common experiences will constitute most of the

data content for this study, these data will be analyzed and processed using

theories which will help in the clarification and justification of the gathered data.

In this research, the proponents make use of U&G theory founded by Elihu Katz,

Cognitive theory and Theory of Reasoned Action posited by Ajzen and Fishbein. 

Uses and Gratification Theory

This theory is generally viewed as a theory that is related to research on

media effects. To satisfy particular needs, it is an approach to get information on

how and why an individual looks for particular media to satisfy particular needs

(McQuail, 2005). As stated by Newhagen and Rafaeli (1996) that U&G theory is

fit for the internet since the internet has something that is suitable for everyone.

Since the Internet has many things to offer, be it finding information,

interpersonal communication, entertainment, recreational activities, or escapism.

As cited in Patrick (2010), the Internet is just like a “chameleon-like character”. 

This theory supported the researchers' study since individuals seek

information to widen and to broaden their knowledge. Additionally, a person

seeks specific media to satisfy their needs, such as online shopping or

communicating with other people. This theory will help to learn why people use

the internet and how they use it. 

Cognitive Theory

Internet use and cognitive development

 A relatively recent type of media that has grown rapidly in use and

applications that is called the internet. According to Roberts et al. (2004),

presently, kids between the ages of 8 and 18 spend an average of over one hour

daily on recreational Internet use. Such Figures, in any case, as stated by

Rideout et. al.  (2003) are misleading because youngsters who do not have

home internet access, which may be more than one third of the population are

included in the analysis, Teenagers are online more than some other age group

(Subrahmanyam, Kraut, Greenfield, & Gross, 2001), “About 25 percent of 5-year-

olds use the Internet, and this number rises to over 50 percent by age 9 and to at

least 75 percent by ages 15-17” (National Center for Educational Statistics,

2003). All trends demonstrate that the quantity of children accessing the internet

just as the amount of time spent online is consistently expanding (Statistics

Canada, 2004). Given such unavoidable and broad use in children and youth,

from a cognitive-developmental point of view, the web is a social device that

impacts cognitive procedures and an ecological improvement that contributes to

the arrangement of specific Intellectual design.

This theory is useful in the study because many individuals develop their

skills and knowledge because of the internet. Individuals just do not seek

information on the internet but also can experience fun and entertainment

because of recreation activities such as online games.

Theory of Reasoned Action

Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) which recommends that social conduct

is motivated by person’s attitude toward doing that behavior, a function of one’s

conviction about the result of performing that behavior and an assessment of the

estimation of the each of those results (Ji-Won Moon & Young-Gul Kim, 2001).

According to TRA conduct is resolved directly by the aim to perform, in light of

the fact that individuals in general, act as they intend to do, within the available

context and time. (Ji-Won Moon & Young-Gul Kim, 2001)

This study will use the Theory of Reasoned Action because people act the

way of how the community behaves. Since the internet is open for everyone they

can influence other people and the internet can change one’s view and

perspective. It can also change you behave in your daily life. 

Importance of the Study

The result of this study will give the beneficiaries knowledge on the

different factors on the internet and its landscape. The beneficiaries of this study

are the following: 

Communities

The results of this study will benefit the community since the results will

give them knowledge about the internet and having internet access. In this

modern age, the community uses the internet to make their life easier and more

comfortable, this will give them knowledge about the different perceptions of

individuals about having internet access.

Students
 The results will give students some knowledge on what the different

factors on the internet are accessible and which of these factors have a negative

effect on them upon entering cyberspace. Another advantage that the students

will get from this study is that they could acquire the knowledge about the

internet’s impact on their studies, they will gain advantage on their studies

Teachers

      The given data will give teachers an in-depth knowledge on the different

factors that may affect the student’s behavior towards the internet. And the

teachers will also have an idea on what kind of sites their students have access

to. The result of this research will also help them in emphasizing the usage of

internet access for educational activities. Teachers use the internet to find

information, and to share various data to their students that can improve the

learning and the ways of accessing reliable resources on the internet to their

students.

Parents

Same as the teachers, Parents will gain knowledge on what their children

are on the internet and what factors of the internet must they restrict on their

children. This will help parents to monitor their children’s behavior on the internet.

They will benefit from this study to gain awareness of what’s happening in the

cyberworld.

Future Researchers
 This may serve as a basis for future research that they will conduct.  The

findings of this study may be used by future researchers who will conduct related

study. They could use the current information given by this research to support

and substantiate the future studies conducted. 

Limitations of the study

Precision of the data: The data gathered won't be exactly precise, the reason for

this is because the participant’s ideas wont be straightforward because of the

privacy or the information that they are giving is lacking. 

Timeframe: Time alloted for conducting the research is limited and will only last

from March to April.

Setting/Place: It will be conducted at Malayan Colleges Mindanao,Gen. Douglas

MacArthur Hwy, Talomo, Davao City, 8000 Davao del Sur.

Criteria:  The people that are chosen for this research are the ones that are from

the school,Malayan Colleges Mindanao.They are chosen for this research

because the people that are in this facility are mostly linked to the internet.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

Landscape - refers to how an individual uses the internet and why the individual

uses that internet site. It can also be referred to as the purpose of the individual.

Internet access - refers to how people access the internet easily and how they

use the internet efficiently. 

Qualitative study - refers to the method that the proponents will use to extract

information about having internet access.

Organization of the study

         This part discusses the organization and description of each chapter,

which is mainly focused on the components of each part. This study is composed

of three chapters: the introduction, review related literature and methodology.

         Chapter 1. Introduction includes the discussion of the study’s components

such as its establishment, the theories related to the study, research questions,

and limitations. The establishment of the study shows the sequencing of the

components in the study, by first background of the study followed by its

purpose, research questions, theoretical framework, importance, limitations,

definition of terms and its organization. The theories related will give direction

and a given context, which would support the study. Research questions will

serve as the foundation of this study and the limitations of this study discusses

the components of the study’s influence as well as its shortcomings.

         Chapter 2. Review Related Literature discusses the different data

acquired to supplement the study. This acquired data will serve as a support for

an in depth and huge expanse for the study’s analysis by the data collected at

the end of the study.

         Chapter 3. features the different methods used by the proponents to

conduct the study. It discusses the research participant’s description, research

design as well as the methods used to gain an elicit information from the

research participants thus, includes the method of data collection. Lastly, the

validity of the study explaining the long process and ethical considerations

undertaken during the study.

CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter presents the related readings or literature that will support the

study. The related literature has 5 themes which are accessibility of the internet,

Utilization of the internet in the teaching- learning process, Issues in terms of

Internet Accessibility, Issues in the use of the Internet in the teaching learning

process, and suggestion for improvement

Accessibility of the Internet 

The Internet's history returns a few decades at this point – email has been

around since the 1960s, record sharing since in any event the 1970s, and

TCP/IP was institutionalized in 1982. In any case, it was the making of the

internet in 1989 that upset our history of correspondence. According to Roser,

Ritchie and Ospina (2020), The web has been one of our generally

transformative and quickly developing advancements. Comprehensively the

quantity of web clients expanded from just 413 million in 2000 to over 3.4 billion

in 2016. The one billion hindrance was crossed in 2005. Every day over the past

five years, a normal of 640,000 individuals went online for the first time. 
 Poorer nations, for example, those in South and Southeast Asia and sub-

Saharan Africa, have much lower internet rates compared with richer developing

nations in Latin America and the Middle East, as well as rich countries in Europe,

North America and East Asia and the Pacific (Poushter, 2016). Having access to

the Internet is growing globally, but still individuals who are living in a country that

has advanced economies, have more access to using the internet in different

factors. 

Internet innovation is increasing a significant development in terms of

access, utilization and utility in the economic and social improvement of the

world. Its utilization has become a fundamental piece of resource utilization and

administration delivery, education, business, and diversion, over the world

(Ahmad & Rafiq, 2016). The Internet is one of the most successful inventions that

a human being has made, it has many functions and sites where an individual

can get information and data, use for communication and even for

entertainment. 

A wide scope of governments, organizations, and common society

associations are trying different things with new approaches to connect more

individuals to the internet, surveys directed in both the developing and the

developed world reliably find the absence perceived relevance and absence of

digital literacy that are similarly as significant as network availability and cost 

(Yoo and Srinivasan, 2017). They are trying to connect more individuals to

the internet  but some individuals do not have internet access, and there are

many factors why they cannot connect to the internet. According to the data
given by IEEE Internet Initiative eNewsletter (2017), more than half of the world's

7 billion residents approach the Internet, and Internet adoption rates have started

to decrease.

In the world, there are now 3.9 billion people who do not use the Internet,

because of being poorer, they tend to be disproportionately less educated, rural,

elderly and female (Taylor, 2016). There are lots of people who don’t have

access to the internet. According to Sample (2018), globally the rate in getting

online has fallen sharply since 2015, with ladies and the rural poor substantially

excluded from education, business and other doors the internet can give. 

Internet non-selection is connected to various demographic factors,

including age, educational achievement, family salary and community type, the

Center's most recent investigation finds (Anderson et. al, 2019). Such as the

variable, age, elder people are not into social media and most of them are not

into technologies such as computers or phones, tools that can be used in

accessing the internet. It is stated by Hafez et. al (2018), that the quantity of

elderly social media users has expanded dramatically in 2015 to reach 35%

among the community of 65 years and older, as compared to 2% in 2005, but

they are still considered the smallest social media user group among all the

diverge  age groups.

The internet should be more accessible to anyone since the Internet's

Society motto is “The Internet is for Everyone.”. According to Web Content

Accessibility Guidelines or WCAG (2018), it enabled people with disabilities to

live more independent and comprehensive lives. Presently, the internet has
become a necessity for people with disabilities, WCAG helps to make a useful

and accessible website for everyone. It is a document enumerating web

accessibility standards that are accessible to anyone throughout the world. 

The government is trying their best to provide the people in each

community an access to the internet because many studies have found evidence

that internet access drives economic growth. According to the University of

California (2012), connected a 10% ascent in broadband access to a 1.35% in

GDP in developing nations. It is also stated that a doubling in mobile data use

boosted GDP per capita by half a rate point (Deloitte, 2012)

The Internet is a superhighway of information, in just a click you’ll be

entertained, you will learn a lot of things. Park (2009) and Zakaria, Watson and

Edwards (2010) expressed that the web has such a large number of functions.

Those  are: information recovery, communication, amusement, and social

communication particularly in advanced education. The Internet is open to

everyone, they can be accessed easily by anyone. 

Most of the students in this generation can access the internet easily, for

educational purposes. Tutkun (2011) found that the vast majority of the students

access and use the web for their educational activities. The level of sharing

information was additionally high among the students in learning forms. The

study of Khan, Khan  & Bha (2011) also found that learners use the web mainly

for academic purposes. Students use the internet to search for information about

their lessons or for research. 

 Across Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania, 79%

felt that increasing internet access improved education, and more than half

believed it benefited the economy, politics and even personal relationships.

There was less agreement on morality: only 45% believed internet access had a

positive impact.

According to Silver & Johnson (2018), an October survey by Pew

Research Center in Washington DC, that across Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria,

Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania, 79% felt that expanding the internet get to

improved education, and more than half believed it benefited the economy,

governmental issues and even personal relationships. There was less

concession to ethical quality: just 45% accepted that internet access had a

positive effect. 

Half of the population worldwide are now using the Internet. According to

Sample (2019), the data from UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) 

declared that the world wide web had crossed a threshold with more than half of

the global population now online. The figures reflect not just the spread of online

availability, regularly in the form of mobile broadband, yet whether individuals can

utilize it - which means they have the skills and income to get online and discover

material of interest there. Everyday, people use the internet everyday not just for

entertainment but also for communication, building relationships, for education,

news, and even for entertainment.

Having access to the internet has a lot of factors to consider , there are a

lot of things you can do on the internet, it is such a big place, there are different
websites which people can have access to. Stated by Thakur (2018), "When you

talk about getting online, it’s not that simple," and "Not everybody is experiencing

the internet in the same way." Having internet accessibility has lots of

advantages and disadvantages in the lives of individuals, it tends to affect our

everyday lives. Individuals use the internet in different ways and for different

purposes. 

Utilization of the internet in the teaching- learning process

The Internet has a very significant role for academic activities

(Oghenetega and Igere, 2014). It gives assistance to the students and teachers

for educational purposes. As stated by cdadmin (2019), right now, everybody

prefers Google for their inquiries, issues or questions. Top choices of individuals

websites are popular search engines like Yahoo, Bing, Google, etc. as these

offer a simple and instant reach to the huge amount of information in just a click.

On the internet, there is tons of information that can be searched anywhere. The

internet has introduced improvements in technology, communication, and online

entertainment.

Moreover, since the internet is a superhighway of information. According

to Ogungbeni et al. (2016) the internet provides access to even diversified

information. The Internet provides different datas given by other people to share

information with other people. The exchange of information and ideas are much
easier because of the internet. Communication between each other is a lot easier

than the old days, and the reason behind it is the Internet. In this time, empirical

studies (e.g Adedotun, 2015; Akende & Bamise, 2017)  report that entrance to

information can influence the academic performance of a learner. The use

utilization of internet resources is of greater significance for academic activities,

in high class courses which need an academic review of literature. (Sahin et. al,

2010)

Internet use for academic purpose is found by Kim (2011) to be the heart

of pre-adult academic achievement. The availability of the web is all over, most

learners have had access to the internet on their mobile phones (Ellore et. al,

2014). In this generation, the internet is a very important tool, it makes the life of

an individual more easier and convenient. The utilization of the internet makes

their life easier, such as finding information about your assignment or about the

lesson, Internet can give you information. 

Furthermore, it fills in as a teacher to students where you can ask

everything and it will teach and answer you. The internet can be utilized to very

fast purposes to access information and knowledge to want to get your subject,

field, education, foundation, etc. Adekunmisi, Ajala & Iyoro (2013) found that

91.5% of learners were internet literate and  browse the internet daily for

educational purposes.

The Internet encourages the students to expand their academic

knowledge, research and assignments by getting information and furthermore

improves simple communication to the academic community  (Siraj, et al., 2015).

The Internet provides information in various ways, there are lots of things you

can learn on the internet and it will broaden your knowledge, even if it is a text or

a video, you can learn a lot of things that can help and shape you as a person.

The Internet will affect your daily life and your actions. 

As claimed by Chen & fu (2019), studies show that the internet has

positive benefits on educational purpose. It is beneficial to the students in a lot of

aspects. Updated and present information is well organized on the internet for

easy access, and has contributed importantly to students’ academic laurels

(Kumah, 2015).  According to Pew Research Center (2015) Overall, a median of

64% across 32 emerging and developing nations say the internet is a good

influence on education. 

The Internet is a very important asset to education especially in learning

and researching (Emeka and Nyeche, 2016). The Internet is a very important

asset to education because nowadays the internet is the highlight of most

generations, students rely on the internet when it comes to their research and

homework that involves technology.

According to Shehu, Urhefe, & Promise (2015) they conducted research

about the accessibility and utilization of internet service in Nigeria libraries,

results show that the internet contains more information than libraries. Because

the internet records all the happenings in the world than most of the published

books. The Internet is a place where everybody can share their thoughts and can

share information easily and conveniently. 

 A study by Ellore et al. (2014) on the impact of internet usage on

academic performance and personal communication revealed that because

availability of internet, most learners have had access to internet on their mobile

phones. This encourages students to expand their academic information and

knowledge (Siraj, et al., 2015). The utilization of computers and access to online

resources stated by Akende and Bamise (2017) are comparatively essential to

students. Yesilyurt et al. (2014) showed that having access to a home computer

and internet connection contributes to students’ academic performance as well

as self-learning skills.

As stated by Nzewi (2009) internet affected educational purpose to a

higher quality. The Internet really affects education to a higher quality because

the internet can make it a  highlight of the school, having such technology to a

school can boost the quality of the school. Moreover, the Internet affects

educational purposes to a higher quality because easy access of information will

improve your knowledge. According to Dzakaria (2014), facilities offered in E-

learning helps students to learn with greater control of time and place.

Ivwighreghweta and Igere (2014) researched the impact of the internet on

academic performance in selected tertiary organizations in Nigeria and found that

the majority of the students were computer literate and only access important

academic materials through the Cyber Café. Most of the learners disclosed that

the internet usage improves their assessment preparation. E-journals and e-

books were among the resources frequently utilized. Nonetheless, power

blackout, slow internet speed, lack of computer stations, too many hits or

information overload and lacking of computers were a portion of the issues

blocking effective internet access or usage. 

The Internet is also used in schools for easy access of information and

data. According to Moeller and Reitzer (2011) e-learning helps students in

improving and enhancing their studies. E-learning can help students because this

is the other way for them to learn the lesson easily and gain more

understanding. 

According to means et al, (2009) users of e-learning became tremendous

because of its content. Users of e-learning became tremendous because most

schools nowadays use this method to help students cope up with their grades, e-

learning has a very great effect in education. E-learning has a great effect in

education because it is the way of students to get big scores and cope up with

their low grades. 

Not only students who can benefit in this study but also the teachers, It

opens doorways to an abundance of information, data and educational

resources, increasing open doors for learning in and past the classroom.

Teachers use online materials to prepare lessons, and students to expand their

scope of learning. Interactive teaching techniques, supported by the Internet,

enable teachers to focus on individual students’ needs and support shared

learning (Souter, 2017).

 Furthermore, according to Ferdi (2019) ,the Internet can be viewed as an

archive of free materials that can be advantageous for learners and educators in

the homeroom. By having access to a huge number of books, games, sites, and

so forth., instructors can give a universe of information to their students for no

extra charges. Moreover, it also connects the learners all around adding to

multicultural education by connecting the "cultural gap" An example would be

allowing learners the chance to correspond with friends through communication

from different cultures. Third, the Internet can be a virtual classroom. The

instructor will most likely be unable to give hands-on experiences for all learning.

A teacher will try to adjust where the students are most likely to use the internet

such as facebook, they will try to update them through communication in

messenger or sending emails in outlook, doing some quizzes in blackboard are

just one of the examples of the benefits of the internet in the teaching process. 

Issues in Terms of Internet Accessibility 

One of the most crucial issues that are adamant to be fixed in line of

internet accessibility is the improper use of the technology in committing sexual

illegal acts. According to A. Wéry and J. Billieux (2015), there are problematic

involvement in cybersex that are generally considered to be an excessive and

uncontrolled use of online sexual activities associated with tangible negative

outcomes and functional impairment.

 People are engaged in adult entertainment that lead to contribute 4.41%

of all desktop visits on the internet and the most popular adult sites are garnering

4.4 billion page views per month comparing it to the other sites such as Reddit
that only has 2.3 billion page views. Likewise, the adult entertainment category

ranks seventh of the most visits leading categories on the internet and ranking

below the computers and electronics. Also, people often visit the adult category

that it surpassed some of the best variety of internet categories such as games

and sports categories. According to Fight the New Drug (2017), the adult

category outranks the category of gambling, beauty and fitness, travel, and

health that it also shares twice the profits of the online finance industry in terms

of traffic share.  Iraq also ranked number one of the most traffic shared adult

activities followed by Egypt, Serbia and Japan that takes 4.41% of the world

average. 

In connection with this, the top countries that share the online sexual

activities are surpassed by the East and Asia when it comes to the longest

session visiting the adult category. Kuwait, followed by Singapore, South Africa,

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Hong Kong and Philippines are the top countries with the

longest average session time with 0:03:16 world average. In contrast, countries

with the smallest traffic share of sexual contents are United Arab Emirates

followed by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Indonesia. Furthermore, there are

also countries that stopped viewing the adult category because of the forbidden

content displayed and more likely risqué to view. Muslim countries dominate the

ranking of the most bounce rate which include Pakistan as the top country,

followed by United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Qatar. 

Studies show that people who view sexual contents frequently are more

likely to have brains less connected, less active, and even smaller in some areas.
It is hard to stay out of this lifestyle because people have a wide coverage of

connections to the internet and it is also profiting better than the online finance

company. 

Moving to the bigger problem, cybersex trafficking is also rampant.

Cybersex is sexual activities with the use of technology and by means of

exchanging sensual messages to other people through the internet.  A study by

Aviv M. Weinstein et al. (2015) shows that men are most likely to perform

cybersex than women. Men also have the higher score of craving for

pornography between men and women. Furthermore, Cybersex are used to

recruit young children in act of live sexual slavery using the internet to whom

people can afford them through online transactions made by the recruiters and

the predators and pedophiles around the world. The act is called Cybersex

Trafficking which means the exploitation of young children to be sold globally by

the use of internet and webcam.  

The improvement of the internet correlates to the development of the sex

trafficking because internet is safer than recruiting young ladies from the bar and

children from the streets. The cybersex operates mainly through chatrooms that

offers such illegal acts and secure payment through online payment in exchange

of child pornography.  Cybersex Trafficking also values with a high profit margin. 

Other than Cybersex, Hosting Tribunal (2020) also elaborates the loss of

businesses through hacking. It has been roughly estimated that hackers attack

every 39 seconds and 66% businesses are not sure if they can recover from the

loss. According to the CNBC (2019), cyberattacks now cost the companies
$200,000 on average, and putting many out of business and is one of the fastest

growing criminal activity to be performed. 

Cyberattacks favorably targets small business because only 14% of these

are prepared with businesses mostly not having digital protection plans to defend

themselves during the sudden attacks and only 60% are out of the business after

6 months. People also get scammed through bleached personal information.

Hackers tend to create unsecured sites like getting rewards to make people

invest in their business scheme and senior citizens and up are the preferred

target of the hackers than other individuals. 

Intsights Cyber Intelligence (2018) estimated that approximately 25% of

malware attacks targets the global banks and Financial Services and Institution

(FSIs) than other industry that year, Compromised credit cards (212%),

credential leaks (129%), and malicious apps (102%) take the 25% composition of

the malware attacks. In addition, Malware is the most costly type of cybercrime

attack among organizations by having $2,613,952 malware average cost in 2018

followed by web-based attacks which has an average cost of more than 2 million

dollars per year. 

Furthermore, issues in terms of the internet accessibility also include

cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is an act of public shaming of people in the internet

or technology to target another person. Cyberbullying includes harassment which

most of the bullying falls into. This also means flaming when people tend to have

fights online, exclusion when a person gets removed from the chat rooms or

group chats, outing when someone shares personal information to the public,
and masquerading when the bully  makes an anonymous account just to harass

the victim online.

According Nicole M. Aune (2009), findings indicate that cyberbullying is

becoming more prevalent as students spend an increasing amount of time using

technology that keeps them connected to people at all hours of the day. She also

stated that cyberbullying is different from the traditional bullying because the

internet provides anonymity for the bully and cannot be addressed at school due

to the scope of the legal actions of the school’s administration. Hurtful words are

more spoken in virtual arguments than confronting the other person face-to-face

because of the anonymity the internet provides. 

A consolidated report from the Department of Education (2014) states that

there are about 21% percent rose of cyberbullying among elementary and high-

school students in public schools. This result equals to 6,363 cases and

translates to 31 daily bullying cases from advisory 201 days, compared to 5,236

the last year of 2013 from a disclosed information of Rep. Gerald Gullas Jr., one

of the members of the House committee on basic education. 

According to Christo Petrov (2019), online harassment are composed of

42% of offensive name calling, 32% of spreading false rumors and 25% of

people receiving explicit images. Moreover, one of the common victims are the

following; 210 out of 1000 victims of bullying are high school girls with a different

skin color. Moreover, 42% of LGBT youth have experienced cyberbullying, 35%

have received online threats, while 58% have been a victim of hate speech at

least once because people still considers homosexual relationships taboo and
not everyone wants to understand. This results to LGBT people being one of the

top victims of cyber harassment. 66% of female victims have feelings of

powerlessness because of cyberbullying and they are more likely to experience

being cyberbullied from 13 – 15 of age. A source from Javelin Strategy &

Research (2017) states that over 1 million children fell victim to identity fraud in

the last year and they are most likely 9 times more likely to be the victims of

identity fraud than others. 

Moreover, internet accessibility makes it possible for people to do illegal

acts. As stated by Hing Keung Ma (2011), “some adolescents may also use the

Internet to carry out illegal activities such as selling fake products or offensive

pornographic materials or to carry out morally or socially unacceptable activities

such as compensated dating”. The Internet welcomes the invention of

cybercrimes. 

  Financial is the primary result of cybercrimes. Cybercrimes are reportedly

the fastest-growing crimes made in the United States of America. A cybercrime

report by Bromium and McGuire (2018) estimates at least $1.5 trillion of

revenues made and it is only the least of the expected generated revenue in the

cybercrime industry in 2018 alone. Social media-enabled cybercrimes generate

at least $3.25+ billion of revenue globally per year and it is growing more by more

as the years passed. 

A study from University of Buffalo (2019) states that people who are

experiencing cyberbullying were also most likely not having proper sleep and are

prone to depression. A news report of CNN in 2017 expressed the suicide

attempt rate of the number of children have gotten doubled from 2007 to 2015

because of the rise of population committing cyber harassment than before. In

this, boys are more likely to commit suicide than girls. 

Furthermore, the accessibility of the internet is a potential source of

addiction. A behavioral problem in which a person can be an excessive use of

the internet and being internet dependent as part of their lifestyle can cause the

rapid growth of internet addiction or the pathological internet use. Most of the

studies anchoring the internet addiction are most likely to be performed in Asia.

According to Hong Kong Internet Project (2009), the examined Internet addiction

behavior in 6,121 Chinese primary and secondary students in Hong Kong and

found that one-fifth of their sample could be regarded as Internet addicted. 

Video game addiction, online sex addiction, online gambling addiction are

at least the three subtypes of internet addiction. As stated by Dr. Young (n.d),

compulsive gambling has been around for decades, but now access and

opportunity are even greater with the invention of Internet gambling, bringing with

it a new form of addictive behavior. Internet gambling is also considered illegal

but the law is still undeveloped and juries are not comfortable to convict their

fellow citizens for these crimes. 

 Likewise, cyber relationships also became one of the reasons people

tend to stay online just to keep in touch with their virtual relationships rather than

actually spending time with their real-life family and friends. In addition, having

access to the internet means gaining information and knowledge that it became a

habit of people to be compulsive in seeking information online. The use of the

internet is also proven to be the cause of notable decrease of productivity

because people sought to get involved playing virtual games such as Solitaire

than doing their office works (Addiction Center, 2019). 

In medical terms, Addiction Center (2019) reports that Internet addiction

can have harmful effects on people, physically and emotionally by experiencing

body aches, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, insomnia, vision problems, and weight

gain or loss due to internet addiction. In addition, Emotional effects may include

depression, dishonesty, anxiety, social isolation, aggression, and mood swings. 

A recent research study of 2016 shows that people who are internet

addicted most likely to experience trouble in doing activities in their daily lives.

They are socially awkward in real-life that lead them to reduce their ability to

socialize in real-life. Also, they are troubled with the productivity in their homes,

academics and work duties. Internet dependent people are prone to experience

higher amounts of depression and anxiety symptoms. 

According to Martin Fuchs et al. (2018), “The use of the internet and

related digital media has grown exponentially worldwide in recent years. Indeed,

in mid-2016, a penetration rate of almost half of the world's population was

recorded. This translates into a worldwide growth rate of more than 900% from

2010 to 2016”. Also, there is some evidence that in adolescents, intensive SNS

use may be associated with poor psychological functioning, poor mental health,

and suicidality, especially in the presence of cyberbullying. It has been studied

that young people are 7.8 times higher than adolescents who only have 3.3% of

PIU. 
Issues in the use of the Internet in the teaching learning process

Despite the importance of having the internet to students’ academic

performance, its negative influences are various. Some learners use the internet

for entertainment, for example, gaming and social networking, thus culminating in

loss of study schedules (Singh et al., 2013). Besides, learners use the internet for

leisure rather than educational activities (Olatokun, 2008; Ngoumandjoka, 2012)

and this can lead to fallen academic standards. Many students forgot to set their

priorities right that can lead them to failing. They tend to be addicted to the

internet and can’t control themselves anymore.

According to Akin-Adramola, (2014) the topmost uses of the internet by

secondary students is charting, downloading, watching videos online, playing

online games, and online shopping. Students use the internet for recreational

activities. This suggests that some secondary students do not receive proper

guidance in the use of the internet in studying. The internet can be a bad tool for

higher academic achievement if only its usage is not controlled (Mami and

Hatami-Zad, 2014). The student is using the internet for entertainment purposes

is not a negative influence but if it is not controlled and the student neglected his

or her priorities then it is a bad tool for the student. 

Moreover, Chhacher,  Khuskh and Chacher (2013)  and Kassangoye,

Jager, Rugimbana  (2013) stated that the most extreme number of students who

utilized the internet for entertainment purposes. Only 12% of students used it for

educational  purposes. Furthermore, students spend mostly utilizing Facebook.

Among search engines Google was the most well known for searching data. The
main issue identified during research was students having no knowledge about

plagiarism. Students often  cut and paste material and never give references

and citations from where they get data. 

Krischne and Karpinski (2009) completed a study about Facebook and

academic performance. Facebook users and non-users detailed daily web use

and the highest category endorsed embraced was somewhere in the range of 1

and 2 hours pay day. In any case, Facebook users were recording lower GPA

and spending less hours out of every week concentrating overall than non-users.

Concurring to Singh et al. (2013), because of a non-focused approach  (mailing,

gaming and personal communication) just as diversity a variety of information on

the web on specific topics, learners will in general sit around idly on the web.

Similar activities (Chatting, email and perusing sites) have been identified by

Samual (2010) trying to assess internet utilization among secondary school

students in public schools in Lagos State.  

A later report that examined the utilization of cell phones among students

in Nigeria showed that 38.2% spent in the range of 1 and 5 hours out of each day

on their mobile phones, 98% utilized their cellphones to speak with relatives and

peers, around 75% utilized their cell phones for social media, and just 24% utilize

their cell phones for academic exercises (Nwachukwu and Onyenankeya, 2017).

This outcome recommends that a few students don't utilize cell phones to

facilitate their studies, they don’t use it for educational or academic purposes but

rather for entertainment and enjoyment. They also use the internet for

communication, for chatting and calling their families and friends, like using
telegram, messenger, twitter, viber, etc. communicating apps, and they lose their

focus in making their homeworks because they have distractions such as this

factor, mentioned by the author. 

According to Akin-Adeamola (2016), the data stated that  40% of students

spend most of their time chatting on social media daily while 14.4% of students

use the internet for academic purpose daily. This agrees with the findings of

Bragdon and Dowler (2016) that there is a particular interest given that school

heads, teachers, parents, colleges’ students and others support the advantage of

using technology in higher education, but the reality is that this technology is

often being used for non-academic purposes.

Furthermore, the effects of technological tools on student’s academic

success stated that most learners have been late in submitting their requirements

such as assignments because they spend more time on social media instead of

doing or prioritising their homeworks. Many students are distracted and can’t

focus because of social media, they tend to forget all the things they have to do

because of social media. But, Singh et al. (2013) found that students with a

focused approach go deep in subject and mainly use the internet for educational

purpose. These learners do not waste time because of preparing their time

properly, focus on search areas and limiting the use of social networking sites to

minimum.

Moreover, the Internet for education purposes needs to be accessible for

everyone but there are factors that using the Internet can’t be accessible for

academic purposes. According to University of Illinois Springfield (2020), Before

any online program can plan to succeed, it must have learners who can get to

the internet learning condition. Absence of access whether it be for economical

or logistics reasons will prohibit in any case qualified students from the course.

This is a critical issue in rural  and lower socioeconomic nations. If the

participants’ time online is constrained by the amount of Internet they can afford,

then instruction and participation in the online program won’t be fair for all

learners in the course. This is a restriction of online programs that depend on

Internet access. 

Web has become an everyday commodity in the majority of people's

lives .Be that as it may, the addictive-like features of the internet make any

person who excessively use it a potential victim of its negative impacts. Some of

its negative effects include impaired sleeping deprivation, social relationships

separation, work losses, mental and physical well being as well as poor

academic performance (Ngoumandjoka, 2012). The Internet has become part of

a person's life. It changes an individual's actions and views in life. 

Suggestion for improvement

Since most of the students find cybercafes or internet cafes to access the

internet but there’s a shortage of cybercafes. This is consistent with a prior study,

which found that students require the internet to do their research study, n any

case, it was not practical because of poor access in their libraries, offices and

data and correspondence innovation focuses. The similar study showed that a

vast number of the students relied on private internet services and cyber cafés

(Ani, 2010).
 Another  reason is that they  don’t have enough me to  use the internet at

their concerned campuses due to the tight and busy class’s schedules. The

student’s should practice managing themselves and managing their time. 

According to Kapur (2018), that time management is a skill that everyone should

practice, and individuals should be involved in multitasking daily. 

Web is the best tool for self-improvement, yet the vast majority of the

individuals live the busiest life that makes it hard for them to make the most of it.

The internet has a huge amount of information. The more you jump into it, the

deeper you will discover it. It is not just for entertainment but also for expounding

your knowledge. Many individuals unfortunately use it in the wrong manner; they

are constantly on the prowl of obscene content,yet the internet has a lot of useful

data that can make your life better and comfortable. Despite the fact you have a

very busy life, spending a couple of minutes online can improve your insight. The

internet is super huge. You can find yourself achieving new statutes and goals.

(Baberwal, 2019)

The accessibility of various internet sources to students does not concede

every one of them quick access. The various Senior High Schools are not

creative enough to grant web access to learners. In spite of the alternatives to

school- based internet, access to internet among students is still limited. Besides,

having access to internet sources such as Google is promoting academic

performance among students since those with access showed more

improvement in academic performance than those without the access of internet.

This study suggests that students with access to internet sources have been
utilizing them in manner that will promote their academic achievement.

(Yebowaah, 2018)

Tertiary organizations in developing countries should build efficient

internet cafes and also provide internet facilities within the area of students and

subscribe to electronic scientific databases. This will enable more access beyond

the use of smartphones as well as the use of open access resources such as e-

journals, e-conferences, e-thesis and dissertation. (Apuke and Iyendo, 2018)

Related Studies

. The related study that the researchers will use to supplement the study is

the study  “The internet use and its effect on Senior high school students in wa

municipality of Ghana '' by Franklina Adjoa Yebowaa and “University students'

usage of the internet resources for research and learning: forms of access and

perceptions of utility” by Oberiri Destiny Apuke and Timothy Onosahwo Iyendo.

The title of the study is, “The internet use and its effect on Senior high

school students in wa municipality of Ghana '' by Franklina Adjoa Yebowaah. It is

published in May 2018. It is qualitative research. The study talks about various

uses of the internet among students and how it influences their academic

performance. It is concluded that the availability of different internet sources to

students does not grant all of them immediate access to the Internet. 

Their study talks about the effects of the internet on Senior High School

Students while this study talks about why individuals use the internet and how

they use it. 

 The title of the study is “University students' usage of the internet

resources for research and learning: forms of access and perceptions of utility”

by Oberiri Destiny Apuke and Timothy Onosahwo Iyendo, it is published in

December 2018. It is a mixed method research. This study talks about usage of

the internet for research and learning. The results of the study talks about how

the students perceived of having internet access and there are data connected to

the study.

The study talks about the internet usage for research and learning while

this study discusses what is the purpose of the person, why the person is using

the internet, how a person uses it. 

CHAPTER 3

METHODS

This chapter contains the discussion regarding the research design, research

participants, data sources, trustworthiness of the study as well as the ethical

considerations considered by the proponents in the conduct of this study.

RESEARCH DESIGN

This study makes use of the Phenomenology study approach. This

approach is characterized by will hoffman (2014) the method of investigating or

inquiring into the meaning of our experiences as we live them. This study aims to

know the meaning based on their experience. This approach is relevant to the

aim of this study which is to know the experiences of the participants on having

Internet.access.

Research Participants

This study will make use of the purposive sampling as its approach

to the participant selection of the study. This approach is used when the

participants represent the population as a whole to inform much knowledge in

terms of the research problem. According to Crossman (2019), a purposive

sample is a non-probability sample that is selected based on characteristics of a

population and the goal of the research.

For this study, the participants as the primary source of data that will take

part in this research must meet a certain criteria. First, they should be a Senior

High School student in Malayan Colleges of Mindanao as of the date the study is

made. Second, the student should have internet access in their homes. Third,

students who use the internet 5-6 hours a day.  Lastly, they have basic

knowledge of the research topic.

Data Collection Procedure

 To acquire the data needed for this study, the researchers will begin by

creating an interview guide. This interview guide is composed of seven questions

which will help in answering the three research questions indicated in Chapter 1. 

Upon construction of the said interview guide, the researchers will then proceed

to the endorsement of permission letters to be handed out to the participants for

their perusal and approval. Once the letters are signed, the proponents will then

proceed to the interview sessions which will be carried out by three members of

the research group. 

After the interview sessions, the data collected by the researchers will

then transcribe the interviews and arrange the responses into the emergent

themes found in the narrations. 

Data Sources

This study has two data sources: the transcription of the interviews

conducted by the proponents and the supporting literature which will give

justification and clearness to the narrated experiences. The primary data source

will originate from the participants’ interview transcription.  The data will come in

the form of the participants’ narration of their encounters and the problems which

surrounded these experiences. 

The secondary data source originates from the related literature which will

give support to the narrations of the participants. Moreover, these literatures will

also allow these narrated experiences to become deepened and expansive. 

 This data will be collected from the participants coming from Malayan

Colleges Mindanao, which focuses on having internet access and the usage of

internet. This area was selected as this may prove to be a petri dish of sorts in

terms of experiences of having internet access. 

 Trustworthiness of the Study

To maintain the integrity and consistency of this study, its trustworthiness

must be established.  The section contains the discussion on this study’s

trustworthiness in terms of its credibility, transferability, dependability and

confirmability.

  Credibility. To ensure that the information in this study are not born of

hearsay, data triangulation is carried out by the researchers. Data triangulation is

the process by which the proponents use more than one form of data collection. 

As mentioned in the previous section, there will be two sources of data in this

study: the transcription of the interview pertaining to the experiences of the

participants and related literature which will provide justification to those

experiences. The common stipulations will then be used as the emergent themes

in this study.

Transferability. The manifestation of transferability is two-fold: the

transferability of the means of data collection as well as the transferability of the

results.  In terms of the data collection, the level of transferability is very high

considering that the same way of data collection may be attributed to other forms

of studies.  The transferability of the results is also high as this may be applied in
a research opportunity that involves the individuals who are not students of

Malayan Colleges Mindanao as well.  

Dependability. To observe dependability, the interview question will be

evaluated by a research instructor and a third-party evaluator. These questions

will undergo countless evaluation and editing to ensure that biases are avoided.

This is to make sure that the data collected would be consistent to those

interview questions of the previous proponents. 

Confirmability. Lastly, to check the confirmability of the information that

were collected and gathered from different participants, the data will be

thoroughly checked by the researchers. The data will not be published if the data

has an error and some data will be changed prior to the participants decision.

Ethical Considerations

There are a number of ethical considerations considered in this research:

the confidentiality of the participants, the acquisition of consent for the interview

and the accuracy of the statements of the participants.  First, the assignment of

codenames to the participants is done, to maintain the confidentiality of the

participants. The codenames were selected at random and these are all names

of both men and women. 

Second, consent letters will also be given to the participants, informing

them regarding their rights in this study such as the right to withdraw their

statements and participation in the study, and the right to anonymity. These
letters will be signed by the participants, acknowledging that they have read and

comprehend  the stipulations in the letter. If a participant is a minor, the letters

will also be read and understood by the parents and guardians of the participant

and it will be signed by the parents or guardians of the participants.

Finally, the interview transcription will also be resubmitted to the

participants in order for them to check for errors or inconsistencies in their

statements.