Essay: Internet Addiction in the Students of Fiji School Of Nursing and Its Impact on Academic Performances

1. Introduction
1.1 Background
The world is advancing every day and with that advancement comes along new trends, inventories and creations that has been incorporated into the lifestyles of many people. One of the most astonishing creation of mankind has been the internet. Internet usage as increased drastically in the recent years. Internet is widely used for work, communication, shopping, entertainment and information. However, despite the benefits, the vast increase in internet usage has led to internet addiction in many people. Kim et al (2004), describes internet addiction as a compulsive need to spend a lot of time on the internet to the point where a person’s relationships, work and health suffers. Internet addiction is not only prevalent in developed countries such as South Korea, Japan and USA, where the technology and internet is readily available but also in developing countries such as Malaysia, India, China and even some Pacific Island countries where people recognizing the works of internet, possibly considering it to be a daily lifestyle necessity (Lee et al, 2014). Majority people in the developed countries have access to internet, young old, rich or poor, are frequently online, therefore internet addiction rates in developed countries are higher than developing countries (Wellman & Hogan, 2004). Internet addiction is likely to be present in our society as the number and size of internet uses are increasing per day, however the use of internet is influenced by the socio-economical gap because the poorer folks are not increasing their usage rate in comparison to the wealthier folks (Wellman & Hogan, 2004). It has been known that young adults, mostly college or university students are more likely to go online, then any other population. It has become common amongst the students to be Googling or Facebooking like it’s a daily activity such as eating or sleeping. Young (1996), has stated that addiction to internet is similar to being addicted to drugs, alcohol which ultimately result in academic, social and occupational impairment. The students with internet addiction tend to face severe academic performances since the amount of study time is spent on ‘surfing irrelevant websites, using social media and online gaming’ (Kandell, 1998).
1.2 Problem Statement
Internet addiction may be a new concept for the local societies but that does not mean it is not present. College or university life is known to bring in serious challenges in the lives of many students. Undergoing all these challenges makes the students exposed to the environment influences and one of them being internet addiction. According Mercola (2014), internet addiction or internet use disorder may not yet be defined as a mental disorder under the Statistical Manual of Mental Health Disorders (DSM-5), however many researchers have argued that Internet addiction may be a contributing factor towards or be a borderline addictive disorder. Various countries such as Korea, China and Taiwan has recognize the threat internet addiction brings about as a public health problem and are trying to address the problem (Lee et al, 2014). The purpose of this research is to investigate the existence of internet addictions among the local population of college students, particularly students of Fiji School of Nursing and to explore the relationship of internet addiction and its impact on the academic life of the students. Another reason is that people should be aware of the psychological impairment that is caused by internet addiction especially among the college students.
1.3 Literature Review
According to Byun et al (2008), internet addiction in any individual is assessed through five dimensions, compulsive use, withdrawal, tolerance, interpersonal and health problems, and time management issues. The researchers (Byun et al, 2008) discovered that there is relationship of internet addiction with interpersonal skills and personality and intelligence. It was stated that as an individual’s internet usage or internet addiction increases, then there would be an attention deficit, hyperactivity and impulsiveness increase. The Meta- analysis (Byun et al, 2008) discovered that increasing network capabilities contributes to social isolation and functional impairment of daily activities.
Moving on, Yen et al (2007) states that one of the causes of internet addiction is a result of family factors. Since families play a large role in adolescent development and socialization, family factors are one of the major risk factors for internet addiction. In a quantitative study conducted by Yen et al (2007), it was demonstrated that the negative attitude or behaviours of the families, such as parent- adolescent conflict, lower family function, alcohol use of siblings and abuse, all contribute toward internet addiction in adolescents. This research suggested that internet addiction may be a form of problematic behaviour and ineffective discipline and supervision and poor intrafamily relationships aid in the initiation of problematic behaviours.
On the other hand, Fu et al (2010), recognize internet addiction as a social problem where the people of younger ages are considered to be less self-regulated, coordinated or focused therefore they become more susceptible to media influences so easily. this study (Fu et al,2010) also states that out of 511 participants(students) from 439 households in Japan, 38% of them aged 16 ‘ 24 are categorized to be internet addicted.
One argument placed by Fu et al (2006) is that female students are likely to be addicted to internet. This statement is however, contradicted by Young (1996), Yen et al (2007), Liu & Kuo (2007) and Niemz et al (2005) stating that male students are more likely to be internet addicted. Niemz et al (2005) and Young (1996) state that internet addiction rate is higher in the males as they use internet to fuel their addictions of online gaming, gambling and pornography and unlike females, male find difficulty in admitting that they are facing problems.
Moving on to consequences of internet addiction. In an overview of internet addiction, Murali & George (2006) state that internet addiction affect many aspects of an individual’s life is through interpersonal, social, occupational, psychological and physical aspects. The negative impacts are known to be on the family and social life as the internet addicts tend to neglect regular family, social activities and interests. Also internet addiction also contributes to poor performances in schools and colleges. Psychosocial consequences include loneness, frustration, depression and suicidal tendencies. (Murali & George, 2006)
Further on, the main negative effect of internet addiction of college students lies on the academic performance. According to Akhter (2013), the academic problems by internet addiction include decline in study habits, significant drop in grades, missing classes, being placed on academic probation and poor management of extracurricular activities. Akhter (2013) suggested that university students are considered to be high risk groups of internet addicts because of their available free time, with no parent supervision and a need to escape the tough university life. Akhter (2013) used Young’s internet addiction test to conduct a survey on the undergraduates of National University of science and technology in Pakistan and concluded that 1 in every 10 university student is internet addicted and out of the internet addicted students, 65% of them are likely to fail or drop out of school.
Moving on, another research conducted by Anderson (2001) on college students concluded that excessive internet use of students results in sleep problems and reducing everyday activities which lead to academic failure. From the survey Anderson (2001) discovered that the average time a student is online in a day is for 100 minutes. She also stated that out of all the participants, 16% were confirmed with internet addiction and the total amount of time these students spend online was more 400 minutes. Even Young (1996) states that internet availability does not improve the academic performance of students and 58% of students’ participants in this researched showed signs of decline in study habits and low grades due to internet addiction and out of those participants 43% failed their annual examination.
2. Objectives and Aim
Aims: To find out about the impact of internet addiction on academic performances of the students of Fiji School of Nursing.
Objectives:
‘ To find out the factors associated with the internet addiction in students.
‘ To find out about the direct and indirect impacts of internet addiction on the students.
3. Methodology
3.1 Study type
The study type for this research is a descriptive quantitative study that will be carried out in Fiji School of Nursing. A quantitative study approach will assist in quantifying the relationship internet addiction has with the academic performance of the students. A descriptive study will aid in describing the actual relationship within the variables, and in this case with internet addiction and academic performance. The reason for choosing this study type is that the source of data chosen is questionnaires, as it will make it more effective in gathering data. Questionnaires is the best option for data collection as the students can complete the questions in their free time rather than trying to make time out for interview and such. Another reason questionnaire are best suited for this study is that the focus group of this study is based on a limited number of students.
Study design
This is a prospective cross- sectional study to clarify how internet addiction affects academic performances of students. The reason for choosing a prospective study is because it is an easier and efficient method of gathering data. Prospective study will aid in looking out for the occurrence of internet addiction among the students over a certain period of time and are able to observe the impact of internet addiction on the academic performance of the students. For choosing cross-sectional study, data will be collected from the students of Fiji School of Nursing at one given time and this will be used as the overall picture of the population.
Variables
Some of the variables that the study may include will be:
– The demographical data of students will be: age, gender, and ethnicity
– The number of students that use internet daily.
– The availability of technology to use internet: laptops, tablets, phone, school ICT.
– The number of cases of internet addiction among the students of Fiji school of Nursing.
– The academic performance/ grades of the students of Fiji school of nursing.
– The amount of time students spend studying in a day.
– The amount of data (estimation) a student uses in a month for internet usage.
3.2 Sampling
This study will be carried out in Fiji School of Nursing in Tamavua, Suva, Fiji Islands. A sample of undergraduate students from all the three years, students from each year, year one, year two and year three, of the said school will be recruited in the study. The participants are to be recruited voluntary, with both verbal and written consent given. For this research, stratified sampling technique is being used because from all of the student population of Fiji school of Nursing, year 1, 2, and 3 will be divided into two groups, group one (A) is consistent of students who have access to internet on a daily basis e.g. students with internet phones, laptops and tables. Group two (B) is consistent of students who do not have continuous access to internet on daily basis e.g. students who do not have smartphone or laptops. The questionnaires will be demonstrated amongst only group one (A), the students with access to internet on daily basis.
Inclusion Criteria: Students of Fiji School of Nursing who use internet daily through their internet phones, laptops, tablets or either through school library or ITC (Group A).
Exclusion Criteria: Students who do not use internet daily through smartphones, laptops, tablets, school library or ITC (Group B).
3.3 Plan for data collection
A structured and pre-tested questionnaire will be prepared and distributed among all the three year level of students of Fiji School of Nursing who fall under group one (A) category, those having access to internet on daily basis. The questionnaires will be based on the student’s lifestyle revolving around internet, how often the students use internet, through what means, how often do the students study and does internet usage clashes with their study time and what effect does daily usage of internet have on their grades. The data will be collected from April to June 2015. Informed consent, both oral and written will be taken from the students during the distribution of the questionnaires. The questionnaire will be typed and printed in English and a sample questionnaire will be attached in the annex of the proposal.
3.4 Plan for data processing and analysis
The data will be collected from the structured questionnaire distributes to the students and the questionnaires will be analyze using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) for Windows version 21.0 software. SPSS is a programming statistical analysis that is used for managing, analyzing and presenting data.
Confidentiality will be maintained throughout the research, where all the personal data of the participants will be only accessible to the researchers only. The data will be analyzed numerically and quantified. The words will be transformed into quantitative categories through the process of coding. Then the numbers will be analyzed statistically to determine, for instance, the percentage of students facing academic problems due to internet addiction.
3.5 Ethical Consideration.
The ethical approval for carrying out this research will be obtained from the local research committee. Approval will be first send to the Department of research Committee of Fiji school of Nursing and then it will be send to the College of Health Research Ethics Committee and then forwarded to the Fiji National Research Ethics Review Committee. Once the approval for this research is given, a written permission will be asked from the head of School, Fiji School of Nursing, to seek permission to start data collection in the school.
Written and verbal consent will also be gathered from the participants upon distribution of questionnaires. Confidentiality will be maintain and the participants will be assured that no personal data such as name and address will be An information sheet will be given with the consent form, explaining what the research is about, what they are actually asked to participate in, what are the risks for participation and how they got selected to participate the research.
4. Work Plan
Activity M O N T H
March April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Submission of research proposal to DRC
Submission to CHREC
Data collection
Data analysis
Report writing
Dissemination seminar
5. Budget
Expenses Total
1. Data collection and data entry-Research assistant F$80.00
2. Supplies- priniting questionnaires, stationaries, packaging box, F$80.00
3. Telecommunications F$10.00
4. Transport Allownace F$30.00
5. Data Analysis F$80.00
6. Publication F$100.00
Grand Total F$380.00
6. Plan for administration, monitoring, and utilization of results
The work plan will be strictly followed in order to complete the research, data collection and data analysis at the given time. The expenses will be kept within the budget and time and resources will be used wisely. The results will be presented in numeric and percentage form. The results will be presented through bar graphs, pie charts and line graphs. The final report with recommendations will be submitted to the Ministry of Health to the following departments:
‘ Research office, Ministry of Health
‘ Local and Pacific Regional Health research conference
‘ Tutors and students of the Fiji school of Nursing
‘ Presentation in Local Health research conference and symposium
Reference List
Akhter, N. (2013). Relationship between Internet Addiction and Academic Performance among University Undergraduates. Academic Journals, 8(19), 1793-1796. Retrieved from http://www.academicjournals.org/article/article1382342222_Akhter.pdf.
Anderson, K. (2001). Internet Use Among College Students: An Exploratory study. Journal of American Health, 50(1), 20-28. Retrieved from http://faculty.mwsu.edu/psychology/dave.carlston/Writing%20in%20Psychology/Internet/2/i5.pdf.
Byun, S., Ruffini, C., Mills, J. E., Douglas, A. C., Niang, M., Stepchenkova, S., Lee, S. K., … Blanton, M. (2009). Internet Addiction: Metasynthesis of 1996’2006 Quantitative Research. CYBERPSYCHOLOGY & BEHAVIOR, 12(2), 203-207. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/Nishant%20Sharma/Downloads/InternetAddictionMetaAnalysis-cpb.2008.0102.pdf.
Fu, K., Chan. W. C,. Wong. C. W. P, & Yip. P.W (2010). Internet addiction: prevalence, discriminant validity and correlates among adolescents in Hong Kong. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 196(6), 486-492. Retrieved on 8315 from http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/196/6/486.full-text.pdf+html.
KANDELL, J. J. (1998). Internet Addiction on Campus: The Vulnerability of College Students. Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 1(1), 11-17. Retrieved on, 8315 from http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cpb.1998.1.11.
Kim H. S, Chae K. C, Rhim Y. J, Shin Y. M. (2004). Familial Characteristics of Internet Overuse Adolescents. . Korean Association of Medical Journal Editors, 43(6), 733-739. Retrieved on 5315 from http://www.koreamed.org/SearchBasic.php?RID=0055JKNA/2004.43.6.733&DT=1.
Lee, J. Y., Shin, K. M., Cho, S., & Shin, Y. M. (2014). Psychosocial Risk Factors Associated with Internet Addiction in Korea. Psychiatry Investigation, 11(4), 380-386. Retrieved on 8315 from http://synapse.koreamed.org/DOIx.php?id=10.4306/pi.2014.11.4.380.
LIU, C., & KUO, F. (2007). A Study of Internet Addiction through the Lens of the Interpersonal Theory. CYBERPSYCHOLOGY & BEHAVIOR, 10(6), 801-804. Retrieved from http://www.encognitive.com/files/A%20Study%20of%20Internet%20Addiction%20through%20the%20Lens%20of%20the%20Interpersonal%20Theory.pdf.
Mercola. (2014). Internet Addiction is the New Mental Health Disorder. Retrieved March 6, 2015, from http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/11/24/internet-addiction.aspx – See more at: http://reffor.us/index.php#sthash.4IuikrZG.dpuf
Murali, V., & George, S. (2006). Lost online: an overview of internet addiction. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 13(1), 24-30. Retrieved on 5315 from http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/13/1/24#sec-5.
NIEMZ, K., GRIFFITHS, M., & BANYARD, P. (2005). Prevalence of Pathological Internet Use among University Students and Correlations with Self-Esteem, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), and Disinhibition. Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 8(6), 562-568. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/Nishant%20Sharma/Downloads/PathologicalInternetUse_cpb.2005.8.pdf.
Wellman, B., & Hogan, B. (2004). The Immanent Internet. NetLab, Retrieved from, on 8315 http://groups.chass.utoronto.ca/netlab/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/The-Immanent-Internet.pdf.
YEN, J., YEN, C., CHEN, C., CHEN, S., & KO, C. (2007). Family Factors of Internet Addiction and Substance Use Experience in Taiwanese Adolescents. CYBERPSYCHOLOGY & BEHAVIOR, 10(3), 323-329. Retrieved on 8315 from http://ntur.lib.ntu.edu.tw/bitstream/246246/173340/1/16.pdf.
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Annex
Questionnaires: Internet Addiction in Students of FSN and its Impact on Academic Achievements
age:
sex: m f
personal status:
student: yes: no:
if yes, what are you studying?
1. How many hours do you spend for surfing in one week?
2. How often do you find that you stay online longer than you intended?
3. How often do you neglect school work to spend more time online?
4. How often do others in your life complain to you about the amount of time
you spend online?
5. How often do your grades or school work suffer because of the amount of
time you spend online?
6. How often do you become defensive or secretive when anyone asks you what
you do online?
7. How often do you block out disturbing thoughts about your life with soothing
thoughts of the Internet?
8. How often do you find yourself anticipating when you will go online again?
9. How often do you fear that life without the Internet would be boring, empty,
and joyless?
10. How often do you snap, yell, or act annoyed if someone bothers you while
you are online?
11. How often do you lose sleep due to late-night log-ins?
12. How often do you try to cut down the amount of time you spend online and
fail?
13. How often do you try to hide how long you’ve been online?
14. How often do you choose to spend more time online over going out with
others?
15. How often do you feel depressed, moody, or nervous when you are off-line,
which goes away once you are back online?