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Kerigan Gillman

Jackie Burr, Instructor

English 2010, Section 3

17 May 2018

Notebook 8: Internet Use and Education

Torres-Díaz, Juan-Carlos, et al. observe the use of technology against student prosperity

in their Ebsco article “Internet Use and Academic Success in University Students.” The sizeable

influence that technology has on university students’ lives inspired this articles study. Five

professionals gathered up 4,697 students to be surveyed about their type of internet use, such as

for entertainment use or for information seeking, as well as how many classes they are failing.

The examiners’ hypothesis states that internet use for both academics as well as for

entertainment purposes will increase the degree of academic success.

The students are categorized into three distinct groups: the dedicated academic profile,

with high levels of educational activity and entertainment; the information seeker academic

profile, with high levels of searching and low levels of entertainment activities; and the passive

academic profile, with low levels of any internet usage. The volunteers were then asked how

many classes they are failing in their university. The percentage of failing classes, going from

least to greatest, is in the order of the academic profile, to the information seeker profile, to the

passive profile. The examiners of this study concluded that their hypothesis was correct—both

academic as well as entertainment usage of the internet increase academic success in school.

However, I would like to challenge this conclusion. Although the statistics do not lie, the

surveys are skewed to get the answers that the examiners primarily wanted. Being that the
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academic profile group accessed various forms of educational activities, and the information

seeking ground only used online searches, it is obvious that the academic profile group would

have a higher chance of passing a class—no matter if entertainment purposes were utilized or

not. They are two different groups overall, so stating that entertainment uses caused the academic

group to have higher passing grades is not valid. In addition, a far greater abundance of studies

have shown just the opposite effect that internet entertainment has held on students. Not only

does it take away time that students can be utilizing for homework or other productive activities,

but it can also give students anxiety, depression, lack of sleep, and more. Overall, it is best that

internet entertainment is balanced and not viewed as a healthy, constructive escape.

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Works Cited

Bhardwaj, Vinod Kumar, and Manju Rani. “Effect of Internet Addiction in Relation to

Healthiness and Well-Being in Rural and Urban Students: Comparative Study.” ​Indian

Journal of Health & Wellbeing,​ vol. 9, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 12–18. ​EBSCOhost​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=127645236&site=ehost-live.

Torres-Díaz, Juan-Carlos, et al. “Internet Use and Academic Success in University Students.”

Comunicar​, vol. 24, no. 48, July 2016, pp. 61–69. ​EBSCOhost,​

doi:10.3916/C48-2016-06.