1

Internet Addiction and Academic Performance

Of Grade Nine Students of Concepcion Castro Garcia

National High School

Johncel C. Flotildes

Chapter 1

Introduction to the Study

This study is made up of five parts; (1) Background

and Theoretical Framework of the Study, (2) Statement of the

Problem and Hypotheses, (3) Significance of the Study, (4)

Definition of Terms, and (5) Delimitation of the Study.

Part One, Background and Theoretical Framework of

the Study, provides the rationale and conditions that

motivate the present researchers to conduct the present

investigation and the basis of choosing variables that are

included in the study.

Part Two, Statement of the Problem and Hypotheses,

gives the general and specific problems that the study seeks

to answer. It also presents hypotheses to be tested.

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Part Three, Significance of the Study, states the

benefit that the study could give and the person who can

benefits the results of the study.

Part Four, Definition of Terms, conceptually and

operationally defines the different variables in the study.

Part Five, Delimitation of the Study, sets the

scope of the research in terms of participants, research

design, sampling procedure, data gathering instruments,

research variables and statistical tools employed in the

analysis of the data.

Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study

Internet is being integrated as part of our every

day’s life because the usage of internet has been growing

explosively worldwide. Homes, schools, colleges, libraries

and internet cafes are the places which are more accessible

to internet nowadays. Completing schoolwork, playing online

games, reading and writing emails and engaging in real time

chatting are the common online activities (Yong, 2011). It

is normally use particularly in frequent communication with

friends and family members. Studies that followed further

investigated the role played by the Internet on campus as it

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was in its early years in academic institutions to help

students with their academic work (Young, 1998).

In Cebu, Philippines, the Internet definitely

counts among the most useful of human inventions. It makes

information very accessible, making researches and studies a

lot easier. It also connects the world conveniently and fast,

making it possible for people from different hemispheres to

communicate at real time. Thus, it's no wonder that everyone

is getting hooked on the internet. It eases day-to-day life,

and makes it fun. Given the emergence of various hand-held,

internet-capable gadgets, the internet has become everybody's

"personal buddy." Even those who are always on-the-go don't

have to be out of the loop with family, friends and workmates.

The widespread connectivity has another side, though. It

becomes a habit with many. Some can no longer do without

checking their smartphones for the latest social media trends

and statuses. The internet has become a major preoccupation.

Then, the internet engagement begins to interfere with one's

daily routine. Some would skip a meal or forgot sleep time

just to keep themselves abreast with developments on the

internet. In fact, some spend more hours in internet surfing

than at any other important task

(https://beta.philstar.com/the-freeman/cebu-lifestyle/2016/
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04/12/1572423/internet-addiction#fitZoKyduI7pQYji.99

retrieval 2/10/18).

Based on the researchers’ observation, students

nowadays tend to spend much of their time in playing online

games in the internet. Socialization has been done by logging

into various social media sites rather than hanging out with

friends or engaging themselves actively in outdoor activities

such as playing basketball, volleyball, badminton. This

observation was supported by the idea of Young (2006) who

stated that internet users are more likely to spend their

leisure time in the cyber community.

Based from Ministry of Information and

Communication (2005) of Malaysia, around 94.8% of teenagers

are using the internet and this propensity suggests that

teenagers may consider the cyber space as a real rather than

virtual space.

According to the National Center of Education

Statistic preliminary studies had shown that a large number

of American children and adolescents with age around 5 to 17

years old have access to the internet and are exposed to the

internet at a very early age (Mythily, Qiu and Winslow, 2008).

It also stated by Arisoy (2009), that children and young

adults are most at risk for Internet addiction in Turkey.

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In 2007 it was declared that there were 6.6 billion

people in the world but 20% of them use internet, the

increased rate has increased 25.6% (Canbaz, Sunter, Peksen &

Canbaz, 2009). However, 11.67 – 19.8% of adolescents have

developed an addiction to internet use. Indirectly, it

impairs the individuals’ psychological well-being, peer and

family interaction and of course academic performance

(Ko at al., 2005).

According to Subido (2016), the number of internet

users in the Philippines had increased by 13 million or 27

percent (27%) from January 2016 to January 2017, according to

a report by social media agency, We Are Social and social

media management platform Hoot suite, that's four times the

seven percent growth rate in the previous 12-month period.

The figures imply that Philippine internet users have reached

about 60 million as of January 2017, or about 60 percent of

the population, based on Entrepreneur Philippines'

calculations. That's sharply higher than the global internet

penetration rate of only 50 percent. Based on him, We Are

Social and Hoot suite also said that social media users in

the Philippines grew by 12 million or 25 (25%) percent while

the number of mobile social users increased by 13 million or

32(32%) percent. Those growth figures are still higher

compared to the previous year.

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Young (2006) cited “the internet has Janus face”.

This idiomatic conveys that internet usage has both positive

and negative impacts to its user. It means that internets

provide facility for people while on the other hand people

might abuse the internet usage also. Although some studies

have shown that students who spent much of their time in using

the internet have better academic grades than those who are

not. However, as the internet has been growing and had been

used intensively worldwide, a student could be easily

addicted into it. Research claimed that excessive internet

usage may lead to internet addiction.

Internet addiction is defined as “an individual’s

inability to control his/her use of the internet, which

eventually causes psychological, social, school, and/or work

difficulties in a person’s life” (Chao and Hsiao, 2000).

Experts consider spending four hours on the internet per day

to be an addiction already. The ideal time for daily internet

use is an hour or so. Computer or internet addiction has now

been included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

Mental Disorders. Internet addiction is characterized by

emotional symptoms like feelings of guilt, anxiety,

depression, dishonesty, great happiness and excitement when

surfing the internet, disorganization, isolation from peers,

and defensiveness. The physical symptoms of the disorder

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include backache, headache, sudden weight gain or loss,

insomnia, carpal tunnel syndrome or tingling or numbness of

hands and arms caused by pinched nerve on wrists, and blurred

vision.

Internet addiction distorts one's morality and

self-control. It is also common knowledge that online gaming

and social media sites destroy the concentration of students

towards their studies. Too much time on the internet is likely

to result in poor academic performance

(https://beta.philstar.com/the-freeman/cebulifestyle/2016/

04/12/1572423/internet-addiction#fitZoKyduI7pQYji.99

retrieval 2/10/18).

Academic performance is the outcome of education –

the extent to which a student, teacher or institution has

achieved their educational goals (Annie, Howard, & Mildred,

1996). Research findings have shown that excessive use of

Internet or Internet addiction adversely affects one's

physical health, family life, and academic performance.

Academic problems caused by Internet addiction include

decline in study habits, significant drop in grades, missing

classes, increased risk of being placed on academic

probation, and poor integration in extracurricular

activities. Besides, adolescent Internet addicts often suffer

from severe psychological distress, such as depression;

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anxiety; compulsivity; feeling of self-effacement; fear that

life without Internet would be boring, empty, and joyless; as

well as feeling of loneliness and social isolation.

Based from the researchers’ observation, the level

of internet addiction of students’ increases rapidly, it

significantly affects their behavioral response of students

at home and in school. This observation was supported by De

Guzman and Fabian (2009). According to them, excessive use of

internet has negative effects on students such as disturbance

in study periods, quality time not dedicated to family,

laziness to do household chores, stubbornness, escapism from

house work, missing of classes, and failing to submit

assignments on time which could result to a great disturbance

to students’ academic performance in school.

This study is anchored based on the Operant Theory

which states that learning is the most powerful small units

of accomplishment which are quickly reinforced (Suler, 1996).

Learning theory emphasizes the positive reinforcing effects

of internet use which can induce feelings of well-being and

euphoria in the user, and works on the principle of operant

conditioning (Murali & George, 2007). Similarly, Kandel

(1998) stated that using computer or internet allows the user

to experience a level of control which is unattainable in

other activities. Most importantly, the computer obeys

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commands once it is issued. It is not the same as dealing

with people; computers can do whatever the users want

automatically. Naturally, this level of control is quite

fulfilling and reinforcing for those who have little sense of

control in other areas of their life.

According to Grohol (1999), “an alternative theory

as to why people use the internet to a great extent is a very

plausible idea. The behaviors we are observing are phasic”.

This theory encompasses three main stages:

enchantment/-obsession, disillusionment, and reaching

balance. The first stage named enchantment/-obsession usually

occurs when the individual is new in activity online. Many of

the addicts need to seek other people’s help in order to

progress faster to the second stage called disillusionment in

which the individual often has to become uninterested in the

activity they engaged in. In the third stage called balance,

the balance symbolizes a normal usage of the internet which

is reached at a different period by everyone and the phases

can still be recycled if the individual finds another

interesting new activity. As Grohol (1999) argues, once new

activities are discovered, an existing user might have much

easier time to successfully navigate through these stages and

hence, reach the balance (stage three) more quickly than a

new internet user does. In this respect, Walther (1999) in

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agreement with Roberts, Smith, and Pollack (1996), assumed

that online chat activity is also phasic; first, are enchanted

by the activity (known as obsession) and then followed by

disillusionment with chatting and a decline in usage, and,

finally, a balance is reached where the level of chat activity

is normalized.

In accordance with Cartesian dualism, the French

philosopher Descartes advocated the view that the mind is an

entity that is separate from the body (Descartes, 2003).

However, the cognitive neurosciences have proved him wrong

and reconcile the physical entity of the body with the rather

elusive entity of the mind (Repovš, 2004). Modern

neuroimaging techniques link cognitive processes (i.e.,

Descartes’ thinking mind) to actual behavior (i.e.,

Descartes’ moving body) by measuring and picturing brain

structure and activity. Altered activity in brain areas

associated with reward, motivation, memory, and cognitive

control has been associated with addiction (Volkow, Fowler &

Wang, 2003). For instance, a review of the neuro-scientific

evidence (Kruss & Griffiths, 2012) indicates that internet

addiction can have a negative impact on identity information

(Kim et al., 2012) and change the structure of the developing

brain (Lin et al., 2012; Yuan et al., 2011). In addition to

this, it may negatively affect cognitive functioning (Park et

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al., 2011), lead to poor academic performance and engagement

in risky activities (Tsitsika et al., 2011).

Various studies have reported that internet

addiction has a negative impact on student’s academic

performance. Hence the purpose of this study is to gather

data about the relationship of internet addiction to the

academic performance of Grade 9 students of Concepcion Castro

Garcia National High School. It aims to seek evidences to

prove the recent findings in our academic community.

The conceptual framework of this study is shown in

Figure 1. The independent variable is students’ internet

addiction while the dependent variable is the academic

performance of the students.

Independent Variable Dependent Variable

Internet Addiction Academic Performance

Figure 1. Students’ Academic Performance as influenced by

Internet Addiction
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Statement of the Problem and the Hypotheses

This study aimed to investigate the relationship

between internet addiction and academic performance among

Grade Nine students of Concepcion Castro Garcia National High

School.

More specifically, it sought to find answers to the

following problems:

1. What is the level of internet addiction among

Grade Nine students of Concepcion Castro Garcia National High

School?

2. What is the level of academic performance among

Grade Nine students of Concepcion Castro Garcia National High

School?

3. Is there a significant difference between the

level of internet addiction and academic performance among

Grade Nine students of Concepcion Castro Garcia National High

School?

4. Is there a significant relationship between the

level of internet addiction and academic performance among

Grade Nine students of Concepcion Castro Garcia National High

School?

In view to the above questions, the researchers

hypothesized that;
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1. There is no significant difference between the

internet addiction and academic performance among Grade Nine

students of Concepcion Castro Garcia National High School.

2. There is no significant relationship between the

internet addiction and academic performance among Grade Nine

students of Concepcion Castro Garcia National High School.

Significance of the Study

The result of the study will contribute to the

following entities;

Students. It is very important to investigate the

seriousness of internet addiction. With the result of the

current study, students will be able to identify and evaluate

the level of their internet addiction. In addition, it will

strengthen their awareness regarding the impact of getting

addicted into it. It would also serve as their guide to use

the internet properly as one of the most powerful tool to

academic success. With that, they will refrain themselves

from engaging too much to various social media platforms and

online games which considered as non-academic related online

activities and just focus on their academic performance to

improve even more.

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Parents. Through this study that we are conducting,

they will be able to know the level of internet addiction of

their child and for them to minimize their internet usage and

exposure before it gets worse. They will allow them to use

the internet provided that it is for educational purposes

only. They will also prohibit them to use the internet

excessively and abusively and focus to their academic

performance in school. In addition, they will encourage their

child to participate in different outdoor activities or in

some academic related workshops like writing a poem or essay

instead of staying and lying at home and engage themselves to

various internet activities.

Teachers. This study is beneficial to them because

it could strengthen their awareness about the level of

internet addiction of students and for them to monitor and

lessen their internet involvement as early as possible. They

will allow students to get access in the internet in school

provided that it is for educational purposes only. They will

use the internet as a tool in order to enhance students’

academic performance and to be able to widen the scope of

their prior knowledge.

Administrators. This study could help them identify

and evaluate students’ level of internet addiction. Moreover,

they will monitor and assess students in using the internet

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in order to avoid getting addicted into it and to minimize

its negative impact to their academic performance in school.

This study would also help them not to worry about students

with high academic performance. However, when it comes to the

students with low academic achievement, the institution

should provide them with some supportive activities such as

group counseling sessions.

Future Researchers. They can use the findings as a

basis that would benefit their ongoing research. By

conducting similar study, they will be able to discover and

investigate the relationship between internet addiction and

academic performance among Grade 9 students as well as the

impact and the changes it brought to the learning system of

the students nowadays.

Definition of Terms

For better understanding, the following terms are

defined in this study.

Internet Addiction -is defined as any online-

related, compulsive behavior which interferes with normal

living and causes severe stress on family, friends, loved

ones, and one's work environment. Internet addiction has been

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called Internet dependency and Internet compulsivity.

(netaddiction.com/faqs/).

In this study, “internet addiction” refers to the

20-item internet addiction test that represents the frequency

of behavior of students towards internet dependency and

compulsivity. The level of internet addiction will be rated

as normal (1.00 - 1.79), mild (1.80 - 2.59), moderate (2.60

- 3.39), problematic (3.40 - 4.19) and significantly

problematic (4.20 – 5.00).

Academic Performance represents performance

outcomes that indicate the extent to which a person has

accomplished specific goals that were the focus of activities

in instructional environments, specifically in school,

college, and university (Oxford Bibliographies).

In this study “academic performance” refers to the

second quarter general average of Grade 9 students of

Concepcion Castro Garcia National High School as of S.Y. 2017-

2018. The general average was grouped into 5; 1 for (below

75), 2 for (75-79), 3 for (80-84), 4 for (85-89) and 5 for

(90-100).
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Scope and Delimitation of the Study

The general purpose of this study was to find out

the internet addiction and academic performance among Grade

9 students in Concepcion Castro Garcia National High School

for the S.Y. 2019-2020.

This survey-correlational study covered the eighty-

three (83) participants of the study out of one hundred five

(105) grade 9 students in Concepcion Castro Garcia National

High School. The respondents of the study were identified

through stratified random sampling and were selected using

lottery method.

In this study, data for the internet addiction of

Grade-9 students were gathered using the adopted standardized

Internet Addiction Test (IAT) of Young (1998). Moreover, the

academic performance of students was taken from the 2nd

Quarter general average of Grade 9 students of Concepcion

Castro Garcia National High School.

The independent variable in this study was student

internet addiction while the dependent variable was the

academic performance of Grade 9 students.

The descriptive statistics that were used in the

study are frequency count, mean and standard deviation. The

inferential statistics were t-test for independent samples,

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and Pearson r. The alpha level of significance is set at 5%

(0.05).