Internet addiction among adolescents

Internet addiction among adolescents

Abstract

Today’s world is a technology driven world, where all the people are linked to the use of internet in one way or the other. Mainly it is the adolescents who use the internet services the most, be it for the gaming purposes, studies or any other. But with the advent of internet technology, life has obviously become easier on the part of adolescents. Each of the innovation brings along with it many of the hurdles or risks. One of the main risks that are associated with the use of internet is internet addiction among adolescents.

Keyword: Internet addiction, Adolescents, Internet technology, Internet services

Internet addiction among adolescents

The technological development of the internet in the initial stages was designed for the promotion of research and communication among various technological institutions. This is also linked to the usage of internet by the adolescents (Aydm, B., & San, S. V, 2011). This is because, in the technological institutions, there were mainly the adolescents only who used the internet for the research purposes. But with the advent of new technological era, HCL Company made various handy browsers that made the usage of internet by the adolescents more flexible and appropriate (Hamid, 2015). Then eventually after the coming in of the smart phones, the usage of internet became more accessible to the adolescents.

Diagnosis

Clinical disorders have been the most fatal things that have been identified to date in regards to the excessive usage of internet. In the clinical disorders have, it is insomnia and depression that are the most common among adolescents who have excessive usage of the internet technologies (Aydm & San, 2011). Insomnia is on the rise among adolescents who over use the internet because, they are deprived of the sleep as they all the time are glued to the internet. Moreover depression is on the rise among the adolescents (Esen et al., 2013). This is because most of the adolescents are inclined towards the usage of internet and mainly the social media. As a result, many of the adolescents engage themselves in the fake profiles. As a result, when the bitter truth is out, most of the people go in a state of depression. Thereby insomnia and depression are among the top most disorders that are linked to the internet addiction among adolescents.

Correlation to Personality Behaviours, Preferences and Environments

It has been found that whenever a person is stress or a stressful situation, people become stressed or engage themselves with the use of internet. This is something that is common among the adolescents. They immerse themselves in the cyber space in order to combat stress. Whereas some others who lack confidence level, escape themselves to online interaction. Also the personality traits like extroversion and high emotional instability are also some of the factors that are negatively correlated with internet addiction and are seen among the adolescents (Hariri et al, 2015). Among some others are insomnia and depression that affect the individuals or adolescents the most.

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There are various advantages that the internet has provided to the adolescents. Like with the use of internet, it became easier for the adolescents to learn through the e-books. Moreover, they also were able to learn by sitting at one place through video conferencing via the internet. This was one of the most valuable advantages that the adolescents had with the use of internet (Kuss et al, 2013). Though it also leads to an addiction among the adolescents, as instead of the books, they were more attracted towards the e-books. This lead to all time screen usage, which in a way is not useful in relation to the health parameters.

Literature reviewed

First group of Study

As the use of technology is in the hands of the user, be it for the good or for the bad. It was seen with the advent of newer technologies that internet usage among the adolescents was increasing day by day, but on the wrong side. This is so because, the pornographic material was easily available on the internet and more and more adolescent’s age attracted towards it. This is also something that leads to internet addiction among the adolescents. In fact, it is the result of wrong usage of the technology only that the rise of cyber crime also increased (Israelashvili et al., 2012; Esen et al., 2013; Orsal et al., 2013). In the recent studies on the usage of internet, it was seen that almost 80% of the population comprises of the adolescents only who are addicted to the usage of internet and are a crime partner in most of the cyber crimes that occur all across the world.

Second group of study

Increase in the addiction of internet with adolescents, it was seen that there were many of the health problems also that came across. In China, it was seen that internet addiction has became the most significant mental health problem among the adolescents. The incidence rate of internet addiction among the Taiwan college students was 5.9% and almost 10.6 % among the Chinese college students. It was also seen that most of the Chinese adolescents who were addicted to the internet faced mental disorders like; they often became aggressive and also had some of the short term memory loss (Li et al., 2015; Sar et al., 2012; Usman et al., 2014).

Third group of Study

Some of the main domains of internet that are popular among the adolescents include, chatting rooms, e-mails, discussion forums etc. These are the main areas because most of the adolescents are attracted towards the usage of internet for the chatting or messaging purposes (Hariri et al., 2015; Esen et al., 2013; Aydm et al., 2011). The pitfalls were many when it was accessed in terms of the internet addiction. Like memory problems, health disorders and also the family problems that disturbed the overall life form of the individuals. In the research studies, it was found by many of the researchers that the common problems that existed among the adolescents who were addicted to the internet included, emotional sensitiveness, maladaptation, insomnia and also not been able to express themselves(Li et al., 2015). This is because most of the adolescents in this age are inclined towards the usage of social media. Thereby they get so much addicted towards it that they eventually face emotional sensitiveness and barriers. A survey conducted by Young, 1996, depicted a graph that illustrated the usage of internet by the adolescents and how has increased over the years.

Similarities

First Similarity

Apart from the social media, online gaming has been the most significant parameter linked with the internet that makes the adolescents linked to the internet all the times. Playing online games has increased the risk of being addicted to the internet by almost 2.7% every time. Previous researches have indicated that unlike the other kind of games forms like the browser and offline games, there are the online games that appear to have the high addictive potential. It is because of this only that vulnerable adolescents develop an addiction as a consequence of frequent engagement. Online games generally demand a large amount of the commitment and time investment and this is what makes the adolescents addicted to it (Esen et al., 2013; Aydm et al., 2011; Li et al., 2015; Orsal et al., 2013).

Second Similarity

Negativity was among the other important consequence that has been identified with the increased usage of the internet. With the internet addiction among the adolescents, they tend to go through various experiences that they relate to their real lives in one form or the other. Thereby in the process of relating, there arise many such situations when the person gets negative due to the higher usage of internet (Sar et al., 2012; Li et al., 2015). Moreover, this occurs because the viewpoint is consolidated towards a single side only.

Third similarity

Studies in different cultures have stated that internet addiction has only been seen as a concern in most of the cultures, rather than a benefit. As more and more time they spend on the internet, makes them have less time on practicing on their own. And as a result, they had lower grades as compared to the ones who did not use the internet (Li et al., 2015; Usman et al., 2014). This is the case when the other people in the conversation expect different way of reaction (Kuss et al., 2013; Hariri et al., 2014). The relationship among internet addiction and interpersonal problem is rapidly increasing day by day. These problems are mainly identified when the family members of the adolescents tend to complain about the adolescents who make excessive internet usage.

Differences

Gender Differences

The studies conducted on the usage of the internet among the adolescents have suggested that there are gender differences that have been seen after the addiction to internet. The studies done by the Turkish university have put forth that the male counterparts are the ones who spend more time on the internet than the female ones. Though some of the studies also suggest that the female members are high in number. It was also seen that the addiction among the women on the internet was more on the shopping sites and the other areas (Aydm et al., 2011; Li et al., 2015; Usman et al., 2014; Sar et al., 2012). Whereas in case of males, the access to internet was made mainly too social media and gaming areas.

Physical Differences

The internet addicted adolescents are very less likely to engage in the health promoting behaviours and rather are mostly against it. As due to the excessive internet usage they are not able to keep themselves fit. In order to overcome this deficiency, most of the adolescents tend to take health supplements. These actually tend to decrease their health and thereby leaving the internet addict prone to the diseases. Thereby, there are many physical differences also that come across with internet addiction among adolescents (Israelashvili et al., 2012; Kuss et al., 2013; Esen et al., 2013).

Work Differences

Many of the employers have seen that the excessive usage of internet has potentially reduced the level of work, rather than enhancement of productivity. Employers who make lesser usage of internet tend to improve more on scale of performance. And the ones who are addicted to internet, most likely develop a tendency to work less and thereby become lethargic also. Moreover, excessive usage of internet also causes delay of work to be accomplished in a sooner time period (Hamid et al., 2015; Orsal et al., 2013). Thereby the need is that internet usage must be reduced while the adolescents are on work, so that distractions can be less.

Thereby, these are the major differences that were encountered among different adolescents who are addicted to the internet.

Discussion

In order to identify that an adolescent is addicted to the internet or not, there are three basic classic mass media innovations (Aydm et al., 2012). These include surveillance, escape, companionship, identity and environment. It has been proved by many of the studies that the adolescents make the most usage of internet to reinforce relationships that at times also takes them into the negative room. It was stated that among the adolescents, college students are exposed to a higher risk of internet addiction (Usman et al., 2014). This is mainly due to the higher vulnerability of them using the internet for one or the other purpose in the college also.

There are approximately 922.3 million, who represent 44% of the world internet user population. It has been one of the majorly growing concerns, as it is compliable to the health issues also. If talked about China, it is yet another country that is facing the charges of internet addiction among the adolescents. In order to combat the internet addiction, the governments of Japan, China and South Korea have set up the boot camps. These are helpful in providing the therapy to make the adolescents free of any kind of internet addiction (Israelashvili et al., 2012).

Though there are many negatives that are seen among the adolescents with the use of internet, there are many of the advantages also. Unfortunately, Internet is misused by some of the groups of individuals if the adolescents get addicted to the internet for the learning and other useful purposes, then no more will it be known as addiction (Li et al., 2015). Rather when one can impart great knowledge from the use of internet if used for useful purposes. It has been identified in the studies from literature that if internet usage is made up to the mark by adolescents then it can reap better returns to them rather than making them an internet addict (Sar et al., 2012).

To conclude, it can well be stated that it is in the hands of adolescents only whether to use the internet for their own convenience or other means. If it is used appropriately, then it will serve as a boon or otherwise a curse.

Future Research and Studies

The internet usage among adolescents is studied further by considering the various different racist. If university and school used only the sites which are related to the students and blocking all the other sites then it will be advantage for the students that they cannot rely on internet for longer period of time. Further research can be done on the usage of the internet by studying the different universities and combining the studies on the basis of age and sex.

References

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Hamid, S., Waycott, J., Kurnia, S., & Chang, S. (2015). Understanding student’s perceptions of the benefits of online social networking use for teaching and learning.TheInternetandHigherEducation,26,1–9.doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2015.02.004

Hariri, M. T. Al-, & Hattami, A. A. Al-. (2015). Utilization of internet by health collegesstudents at the University of Dammam.Journal of Taibah University Medical Sciences,10(1), 66–73. doi.org/10.1016/j.jtumed.2015.01.006

Israelashvili, M., Kim, T., & Bukobza, G. (2012). Adolescent’s over-use of the cyber world – Internet addiction or identity exploration?Journal of Adolescence,35(2), 417–424. doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2011.07.015

Kuss, D. J., Griffiths, M. D., & Binder, J. F. (2013). Internet addiction in students: Prevalence and risk factors.Computers in Human Behaviour, 29(3), 959–966. doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.12.024

Li, W., O’Brien, J. E., Snyder, S. M., & Howard, M. O. (2015). Characteristics of Internet Addiction/Pathological Internet Use in U.S. University Students: A Qualitative-MethodInvestigation.PLOSONE,10(2).doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117372

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