Introduction
Internet is the most amazing invention of the 20th century. Since its invention in 1983, it is developing with more and more amazing features and facilities. Nowadays we can search a book, a magazine, get connected to our peers, stay in touch with stock market, just about any information about anything can be found on the internet. The internet has taken over the world and it can’t be denied that it has made our lives faster. As it connected us together the transfer of information from every part of the world can now happen in a nick of time. But where it has many advantages, its excessive use is also harming us and most specifically our youth.
Internet has expanded its tentacles in our youth. Our young generation is now addicted to internet. For them it’s more important to be “socially active” on social media rather than to actually benefit from internet. The easy access of laptops and mobile phones has also participated in this excessive usage. Our youth is losing interest in sports and outdoor activities rather they are more indulged in internet surfing the attractive but harmful websites that both ruin their health and character. To throw light on this issue there is need for research about the adverse effects of internet on our youth. There is need to find the potential causes of why students rely so much on internet and why they are using it for entertainment purpose more rather than the educational purposes and a global source of information. This paper by the help of various researches will shed light on the issue and provide consensus about negative impact of internet on students. The paper is aimed to discuss the negative impacts of internet on students and why their access to internet should be limited.
Discussion
The negative impacts of internet in everyone are visible however the students who are expected to be the builders of our future are getting affected by its negative impacts the most. Internet today is widely used by our youth and it is making many long term negative impacts on them which they really are unaware of. This study is focused on the adverse effects excessive usage of internet has on students, where the benefits of internet cannot be denied, students should limit their usage of internet to use it for positive things only. The coming paragraphs will discuss why internet usage should be limited for students.
Students have made internet a source of entertainment.The research done for the usage of internet for entertainment concluded that 83.3% of students worldwide use internet for research, playing games, watching videos, and using social media to connect with friends, where three out of these four uses are solely for entertainment (Mikail, n.p).Using internet for entertainment is natural as there are many options available to get entertained by it. Thenegative impact of this internet usage is that they are forgetting the true use of internet which is to gain information. Students are losing interest in books and original sources of information rather they are enjoyinggames, social media and useless videos to waste their important time. This excessive usage is reflecting in the form of bad grades for the students as obviously if a student is too busy in playing games on internet he will not have enough time for studies (Dinesh, pp. 3).
Internet has demolished the classical methods of education. There was a time that students searched libraries and researched to expand their knowledge and gain technical information. Nowadays children can access all these books and researches online on a same platform without the struggle of physical research. However, the negative impact of this usage is the tons of online available content that students are using to complete their assignments and pass the courses. It was observed in a study that most students agree that plagiarism is wrong, but all of them have copied work from internet sources at least once in life(Eret, Esra, and Ahmet, n.p).
This habit is encouraging them to depend on the plagiarized work as they have access to this content available on multiple online resources. They are also forgetting the classical art of creative writing and losing interest in innovation because researches are already available easily on internet. It is also harming their practical approaches to solve a problem as the basic aim of assignments which is learning of students is not achieved. One can easily understand the use of plagiarized work when students do not show their learning in exam or by practical application.
Internet is being a reason of time wastage among teens. Internet due to its attractive facilities provide multiple opportunities for its users to spend their time on and sometimes this reaches a level that students forget about their studies and start using internet in the strict environment of classroom(Ravizza, n.p). This casual attitude then effects their grades and their whole academic progress. Following this casual attitude not only students are affected but also the teachers who are willing to provide quality education. The biggest crop of internet; social media has made us believe the false truth that social life exists in internet. Students spend a lot of time on internet uploading pictures and statuses and even the useless surfing. The social media websites are making themselves more and more attractive to keep students interested and their attractive interface as well the online content. Even in the homes students are stuck to their mobiles busy in what they call “socializing”. It can be easily inferred that if a student spends most of his time in other activities his grades will decline as study needs dedication (Alwagait et al, n.p).
Internet is creating a lot of mentalhealth concerns. In a study conducted in Hong Kong it was observed that increased internet usage is increasing psychological issues in teens and the most prominent issue is loneliness (Yao, Mike and Zhong, n.p). Being too much indulged in internet and social media creates issues like hypertension, anxiety, and depression among youth. These health concerns restrict students to spend their time in studies as their mental and health conditions come in the way. Internet where claims to be connecting us together it has not covered the distances in reality. Rather it has introduced anxietyand feeling of loneliness in us. It is also causing other health concerns like laziness and obesity among students. The research done in 27 university students showed that most students spent more than 25 hours per week on internet and about 11% of American population is suffering from Internet Addiction/Pathological Internet Use (IA/PIU) problems (Li et al, n.p). Lack of physical activity is causing health concerns like obesity and sleep disorders. These results were almost similar in America, china and other countries and students and young adults are found equally affected by the adverse effects.
The psychological issues of excessive internet use are more severe. The research done for psychological impacts ofinternet addiction compares this addiction with severe addictions like substance-based addictions. The psychological concerns are most prominent. Students are suffering from depression, social isolation, anxiety, and distorted personality issues (Pontes et al., n.p). These issues are obvious because students have involved themselves in internet up to the extent that internet has become their reality. This increased involvement takes their attention off their studies both because of its addiction and the psychological outcomes it brings.
Internet allows students to get access to prohibited content on the web. It is claimed that about 30% of data transferred online is porn and this amount is ever increasing. the stundents who are in their teens get too involved in this content and this involvement results in loss of their character.in a survey conducted in six colleges of America it was found that 87% of men and 31% women in college consider watching porn as an acceptable thing (fightthenewdrug.org). Watching thjis adult content the students put their studies at risk. The content takes up all their attention and it becomes difficult for them to concentrate on their studies when their minds are corrupted by porn. Their bejhaviors change and there happens an increase in their frustration level, anexity, restless behavior, and they seek escape from studies as their attraction developes for somethings else. Too much addiction to this content is also harmful for students as it creates psychological problems. Their minds are corrupted by this content, it takes all or most of their time and they have trouble paying attention to their studies when they have developed addiction to this content (Greer, n.p).
Too much involvement in internet disturbs social structure. Students when develop too much addiction to internet, forget what life is outside the internet. The addiction ruins their standards and the concept of morality in social behavior(Li, n.p). They forget they have a family and social circle and their life starts revolving around the internet which becomes their reality. It has been observed that students who spend too much time on their devices and internet are cut off from their family and social life. this dilemma is prevailing all over the world and every country is equally affected by it. Students in their time home are stuck to their mobiles and laptops and are too busy searching for useless content or social media that they forget their siblings and friends. This behavior results in loss of respect both in family and friends and such students are not respected in even in friend circle who participate in positive activities outside the school. Having such an attitude creates a sense that the person has too much attitude and this causes long term effects on them.
Excessive use of internet is causing sleep deprivation which is a leading cause of many other health and mental issues in students (Satghare, pp. 4). Sleep is vital for a person’s well-being, as important as the air one breathes. It can even help a person to eat better and manage the stress of student life. It has been observed that students tend to have irregular sleep patterns. During the weekdays, students tend to stay up late in order to cope up with the studies but on weekends social media and other kinds of entertainment is prioritized over sleep. These irregular sleep patterns damage a person’s biological clock which leads to bad sleep.Other than obvious consequences of sleep deprivation, like forgetting names, lectures or other important things,many skin problems also emerge.
Internet is prevailing the problem of cyber bullying.With the growing trend of being socially active, teenagers tend to be extremely comfortable in sharing their pictures or private data, (even private chats) on the internet. It is a common practice among students to update their id card number or class schedules etc. on social media sited. Availability of this detailed information is used by cyber bullies and hackers to target their victims easily. Cyber bullies make use of the internet and this personal information in spreading rumors about a person. This increased stress deviates a student’s focus and leads to loss of money and sometimes even life.
As majority of students are youngsters, they tend to absorb any kind of information way faster than an adult.Their personalities and moral concepts are at a developing stage. With the extensive availability of internet and access to update or to upload any content, people upload various kinds of dataand claim to be an expert in that particular subject. Students are generally not very careful about the authenticity of the information they are gathering from internet hence they learn and adopt many socially and morally corrupt ideas (Greer, n.p). Which leads to students dropping out in large numbers only under the influence of unauthentic data.
Conclusion
Based on the facts we discussed in this paper we can claim that internet is ruining stundents ability to study and restricting them to put their full in academics. Being too much involved in internet, students are wasting their time in playing games, social media, adult content, and other online activities. It is also harming their physical and mental health as well as their moral character, and it is a leading cause of social disparity that is common among students of modern age. It is also creating other issues like cyber-bullying and internet privacy invasion that are not very common but can become a possible factor to ruin learning environment of students. The amaizing benefits of internet cannot be denied but based on these arguments the use of internet should be limited to students so that they use it only for positive purposes and excel in their studies.
Works Cited
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