ARE TODAY’S STUDENTS ADDICTED TO THE INTERNET?

ARE TODAY’S STUDENTS ADDICTED

TO THE INTERNET?

Dr. Reginald L. Bell, noted scholar and faculty coordinator for Prairie View A&M University’s Center for Business Communication, recently conducted a study on students and the time they devote to Internet usage. Bell co-authored an article examining the results of the study that appeared in the Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, entitled, “Online Time and Gender Perceptions of Internet Addiction.”

The study was based on a sample of community college students and focused on gender differences in Internet usage. In this study, Bell and his team identified three “primary dimensions” — or behavioral characteristics — to measure: 1) the social recluse; 2) the Internet addict, and c) the procrastinator. These traits were then compared to the genders of the survey respondents and the amount of time they reported spending online.

“Our study found that Internet addiction can be based on gender, but it depends on whether or not the student is more prone to be socially reclusive,” Bell said. “When students were acting more like social recluses than Internet addicts, they differed in the time they spent online. Neither group exceeded two hours per day, which seems to be the breaking point for all students.”

Bell and his co-author also found that male and female students seemed to spend similar amounts of time online regardless of their identified primary dimension.

“What we know is that male and female students, if addicted, are addicted in similar ways,” Bell explained. “Although our study was limited and should not be generalized to other populations, we can say that the three dimensions are good indicators of Internet addiction.”

As the Internet continues to play an ever-greater role in the lives of young people, the global implications of the study, according to Dr. Bell, suggest society could lose the valuable faceto-face communications channels among some young adults. Person-to-person interaction is where most of our moral values are learned and where our human interaction skills are perfected through continual interpretations of facial and physical cues.

“The Internet is a powerful tool, but it can have its drawbacks as a primary communications tool,” Bell concluded. o

“THE INTERNET

IS A POWERFUL TOOL, BUT IT CAN HAVE ITS DRAWBACKS AS A PRIMARY COMMUNICATIONS TOOL.”

—DR. REGINALD L. BELL