Introduction
The Internet is the most amazing invention of the 20th century. Since its invention in 1983, it has been developed 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 connects us together, the transfer of information from every part of the world can now happen in a short amount of time. But where it has many advantages, its excessive use is also harming us and, most specifically, our youth.
The Internet has expanded its tentacles in our youth. Our young generation is now addicted to the internet. For them, it’s more important to be “socially active” on social media rather than to actually benefit from the internet. The easy access to laptops and mobile phones has also contributed to this excessive usage. Our youth is losing interest in sports and outdoor activities. Rather, they are more indulged in the internet, surfing attractive but harmful websites that both ruin their health and character. To throw light on this issue, there is a need for research about the adverse effects of the internet on our youth. There is a need to find the potential causes of why students rely so much on the internet and why they are using it for entertainment purposes rather than educational purposes and as a global source of information. This paper, with the help of various research, will shed light on the issue and provide a consensus about the negative impact of the internet on students. The paper aims to discuss the negative impacts of the Internet on students and why their access to the Internet should be limited.
Discussion
The negative impacts of the internet on everyone are visible; however, the students who are expected to be the builders of our future are affected by its negative impacts the most. Today, the Internet is widely used by our youth, and it is having many long-term negative impacts on them, of which they are really unaware. 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 the 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 the internet for entertainment is natural as there are many options available to get entertained by it. The negative impact of this internet usage is that they are forgetting the true use of the internet, which is to gain information. Students are losing interest in books and original sources of information. Rather, they are enjoying games, social media, and useless videos to waste their important time. This excessive usage is reflected in the form of bad grades for the students as obviously, if a student is too busy playing games on the internet, he will not have enough time for studies (Dinesh, pp. 3).
The Internet has demolished the classical methods of education. There was a time when students searched libraries and researched to expand their knowledge and gain technical information. Nowadays, children can access all these books and research online on the same platform without the struggle of physical research. However, the negative impact of this usage is the tons of available online content that students use 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 encourages 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 research is already available easily on the internet. It also harms their practical approaches to solving a problem as the basic aim of assignments, which is to learn from students, is not achieved. One can easily understand the use of plagiarized work when students do not show their learning in exams or by practical application.
Internet is a reason for time wastage among teens. Internet, due to its attractive facilities, provides 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 the Internet in the strict environment of the classroom(Ravizza, n.p). This casual attitude then affects 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 the internet, social media, has made us believe the false truth that social life exists on the internet. Students spend a lot of time on the internet uploading pictures and statuses and even useless surfing. Social media websites are making themselves more and more attractive to keep students interested in their attractive interface as well as the online content. Even in their homes, students are stuck to their mobiles, busy with 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).
The Internet is creating a lot of mental health 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 from spending their time in studies as their mental and health conditions come in the way. The Internet, which claims to connect us together, has not covered the distances in reality. Rather, it has introduced anxiety and feelings of loneliness in us. It also causes other health concerns like laziness and obesity among students. The research done on 27 university students showed that most students spent more than 25 hours per week on the internet, and about 11% of the 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 similar in America, China, and other countries, and students and young adults were found to be equally affected by the adverse effects.
The psychological issues of excessive internet use are more severe. The research done on the psychological impacts of internet 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 become involved in the internet up to the extent that it has become their reality. This increased involvement takes their attention off their studies both because of its addiction and the psychological outcomes it brings.
The 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 students who are in their teens get too involved in this content, and this involvement results in the loss of their character. In a survey conducted in six colleges in America, it was found that 87% of men and 31% of women in college consider watching porn as an acceptable thing (fightthenewdrug.org). Watching this 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 behaviors change, and there happens an increase in their frustration level, anxiety, and restless behavior, and they seek to escape from studies as their attraction develops for something else. Too much addiction to this content is also harmful to 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 an addiction to this content (Greer, n.p).
Too much involvement in the internet disturbs social structure. When students develop too much of an addiction to the internet, they forget what life is like 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 the internet are cut off from their family and social life. This dilemma is prevailing all over the world, and every country is affected by it equally. Students in their time home are stuck to their mobiles and laptops and are so busy searching for useless content or social media that they forget their siblings and friends. This behavior results in a loss of respect both in family and friends, and such students are not respected even in friend circles 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 the internet is causing sleep deprivation, which is a leading cause of many other health and mental issues in students (Satghare, p. 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 with their studies, but on weekends, social media and other kinds of entertainment are prioritized oversleep. 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 cyberbullying. 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 numbers or class schedules, etc., on social media sites. The availability of this detailed information is used by cyberbullies and hackers to target their victims easily. Cyberbullies make use of the internet and this personal information to spread 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 the internet and access to update or upload any content, people upload various kinds of data and claim to be experts in that particular subject. Students are generally not very careful about the authenticity of the information they are gathering from the 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 the internet is ruining students’ ability to study and restricting them from putting their full time into academics. Being too involved in the internet, students are wasting their time 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 cyberbullying and internet privacy invasion that are not very common but can become a possible factor in ruining the learning environment of students. The amazing benefits of the internet cannot be denied, but based on these arguments, the use of the 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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