Although the Internet is touted as being a premiere educational tool that is driving schools to integrate Internet services into their classroom environments, a survey revealed that 86% of teachers, librarians, and computer coordinators responding believed that its usage by children does not significantly improve their performance (Barber, USA Today, "Net's Educational Value Questioned," March 11, 1997, p. 4D). They argued that information on the Internet is too disorganized and unrelated to school curriculum and textbooks to help students achieve better results on standardized tests.
In Young's study (1996), 58% of students reported a decline in study habits, a significant drop in grades, missed classes, or being placed on probation due to excessive Internet use. Although the Internet can be an ideal research tool, students often surf irrelevant web sites, engage in chat room gossip, converse with Internet pen pals, and play interactive games at the cost of productive activity.
In one American university, an investigation was held to find out why normally successful students had recently been failing, and thus dismissed from the university. It was found that 43% of these students failed due to extensive patterns of late night log-ons to the university's computer system (Brady, The Buffalo News, "Dropout Rise a Net Result of Computers," April 21,1997, p. A1).
Similar problems were found in a 1997 survey of 531 students at the University of Texas in Austin, conducted by Psychologist Kathy Scherer. There, 98% of dependent users said they found themselves staying on-line longer than they wanted to. More than a third reported problems in social, academic and work responsibilities that they attributed to overuse of the Internet. Almost half said they had tried to cut down but couldn't.
Employment Problems
Misuse of the Internet among employees is a serious concern among managers. In one survey conducted among America's top 1,000 companies, 55% of executives revealed that they believe that time spent surfing the Internet for non-business purposes is undermining their employees' effectiveness on the job (Robert Half International, 1996). New monitoring devices used to track Internet usage helped one firm discover that only 23% of its employees' usage was business-related (Machlis, 1997).
Internet addicts have an additional problem of all night binges, resulting in decreased productivity in the workplace due to exhaustion.
In Young's study, she found that 90% or more of on-line users said they suffered moderate or severe impairment in their academic, interpersonal or financial lives. Another 85% said they had suffered impairment at work. By contrast, none of the nondependent users reported any impairment other than that of a lost of time.
According to Greenfield's research, 29% of time spent on-line by those surveyed was done while at work. This figure was slightly higher (33%) for Internet addicts. Also, approximately 60% of a sample of 224 companies have disciplined employees for Internet use/abuse in the workplace. Nearly 30% have terminated employees for the same reason.
Social Problems
A study reported in The American Psychologist, the journal of the American Psychological Association, states that "even small amounts of Internet use leads to small but statistically significant increases in misery and loneliness, and a decline in psychological well-being." This finding markedly opposes the notion that the Internet is a social machine, and may be explained by the prolonged hours spent by individuals in the virtual world that increasingly isolate them from real life. Such persons gradually give up their ability to associate and interact with real people in exchange for the anonymity provided by the Internet.
Generally speaking, Internet addicts tend to form an emotional attachment to the on-line friends and activities they create inside their computer screens. They enjoy those aspects of the Internet that allow them to meet, socialize, and exchange ideas with new people through highly interactive applications (such as chatting, playing on-line games, or being involved with several news groups). These virtual communities create a vehicle by which they can escape from reality and seek out a means to fulfill unmet emotional and psychological needs.
Due to the fact that one can conceal his real name, age, occupation, physical appearance, and physical responses during on-line encounters, Internet users - particularly those who are lonely and insecure in real-life situations - take advantage of that freedom, quickly pouring out their strongest feelings, darkest secrets, and deepest desires. This leads to the illusion of intimacy, but, says Young, when reality underscores the severe limitations of relying on a faceless community for the love and caring that can only come from actual people, Internet addicts experience very real disappointment and pain.
Groups Vulnerable to
Internet Addiction
According to Young's study, those most vulnerable to Internet addiction included women and men who already suffer from depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, low self-esteem, or the struggles with recovery from a prior addiction. Many Internet addicts openly admit to having an "addictive personality," and have previously abused prescription medication, alcohol, cigarettes, or food. She also found that dependent users of the Internet ranked high in terms of self-reliance, emotional sensitivity and reactivity, vigilance, low self-disclosure, and non-conformist characteristics.
On-line users who demonstrate highly developed abstract thinking skills may also develop addictive patterns of Internet use, as they are drawn to the mental stimulation that is offered through the infinite databases. On-line users who tend to lead a more solitary and socially inactive lifestyle may be at greater risk of pathological Internet use.
A study performed by Nathan Shapira of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine revealed astonishing data. Most of the Internet addicts in his study reported having had one of five psychiatric disorders at some point in their lives. Dr. Shapira commented that it was unclear whether the Internet problem should be considered a disorder or just a symptom of something else, or whether certain disorders promote excessive on-line use. Dr. Young said she found a similar pattern of prior psychiatric problems in most people hooked on the Internet.
Loytsker and Aiello found in 1997 that higher levels of tendency towards boredom, loneliness, social anxiety and self-consciousness all predicted Internet addiction.
Unpleasant situations in a person's life, a dead-end job, or unemployment were also found to be triggers to Internet addiction. According to Young, the addictive behavior often acts as a lubricant to cope with missing or unfulfilled needs, which arise from unpleasant events or situations in one's life. The Internet allows the person to forget their problems, if only for a short time. In their immediate future, it may be a useful way to cope, but in the bigger picture it only exacerbates the problem.
According to Peele, indulging in addictions gives a person a feeling of gratification that they are not getting in other ways. Peele says that when a person experiences a lack of satisfaction or an absence of intimacy in their life, or is overly connected to others, they may be vulnerable to addiction.
Some Characteristics Found in Association with Internet Use:
· Intense intimacy: among all participants in Greenfield's study, intense intimacy on-line was reported by 41%, while this figure rose to 75% among Internet addicts.
· Disinhibition: 43% surveyed reported a lack of a sense of inhibition, and this figure again rose to 80% for Internet addicts.
· Loss of Boundaries: 39% reported a loss of boundaries while on-line, with 83% of addicts reporting this experience.
· Timelessness: the majority of those surveyed admitted to "sometimes losing track of time;" however, those addicted to the Internet described "timelessness" as occurring "almost always."
· Feeling out of Control: only 8% of the total group surveyed reported feeling out of control while on-line; however, 46% of those who were addicted admitted to "feeling out of control."
Although research is yet to be done in the Muslim world, the above discussion is relevant to our community as well. Until the event of such research, Muslims should be wary of the negative aspects of this new of avalanche of information technology. Most importantly, we must attempt to raise our children as strong Muslims, which will provide them with an inherent protective mechanism against the negative influences of the Internet and those of all other social
arenas
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on the Internet
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