IMPACT OF INTERNET ON THE BEHAVIOR AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS CHILDREN

Abstract

        The purpose of this study was to investigate the interrelationships among adolescent Internet use and academic performance of secondary schools children. Despite the significant numbers of Nigerian adolescents who use the Internet (98.7% of Nigerian children between the ages of 6 and 19 years use the Internet) for education, social, and recreational purposes, little is known about how adolescent Internet use impacts family interactions and youth outcomes. Most research studies on this subject have been descriptive and have provided inconsistent findings. To examine the impact of adolescent Internet use on children education outcome (performance and achievement) in Nigeria, six hundred and nine adolescents (10th and 11th graders) and their parents were recruited from five secondary schools in Ikeja, Lagos state, Nigeria. Findings indicated that Nigerian boys and girls differed in the ways that they used the Internet. Girls were more likely to use the Internet to watch online education classes and blog more frequently and longer than boys, whereas boys were more likely to use the Internet for playing Internet games than girls. Results indicated that Internet use for educational purposes was associated with adolescent academic achievement. Social and recreational-Internet use of the Internet was associated with lower academic achievement. The pathways did not vary for boys and girls. Parent-child relationships (closeness and conflict) were found to be vital to children and played a significant role in the association between Internet use among students and academic and behavioral outcomes. Future research studies should investigate how Nigerian cope with the influx of this rapidly developing technology and its impact of family relationships.

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

Background of the study

Statement of the problem

Research questions

Purpose of the study

Significance of the study

Scope of the study

Brief history of study

CHAPTER TWO (LITERATURE REVIEW)

Literature review

Theoretical framework

CHAPTER THREE (RESEARCH METHOD)

Method of data collection

Population and sample

Data collection instrument

Data collection procedure

Method of data analysis

CHAPTER FOUR

Data presentation and analysis

Answers to research questions

Discussion of findings

CHAPTER FIVE

Summary

Conclusion

Recommendations

Bibliography

Appendix

CHAPTER ONE:

 INTRODUCTION    

Internet use among Affrican has risen dramatically over the last decade (406.1%; Internet World Stats, 2008). Based on current statistics, 24,670,000 of Nigerian households have access to the Internet, which is 62.7% of the population by family count with an astounding 68.9% growth in the period between 2010 and 2016 (Internet World Stats, 2008). The International Telecoms Union has reported that Nigerian leads the world in terms of the percentage of households with high-speed broadband access (Cellular News, 2010). Based on a summary report from the National Internet Development Agency of Nigerian (2015), the rate of internet usage for populations age six years and over is 57.1%; consisting of 51.6% males, and 41.5% females. Nigerian Communications Commission reported that nearly all secondary school graduates in Nigerian are Internet users. Also, 99.4% of Internet users access the Internet at least once a week, spending an average of 13.7 hours weekly on the Internet (Nigerian Times, 2015, September 31).

Much of the literature on the impact of adolescent Internet use has been descriptive (Valkenburg & Peter, 2013), and investigations on the impact of children Internet use on academic performance and behavioural outcomes have provided inconsistent findings (Lee & Chae, 2007). Considering the current status of research area related the impact of Internet use, the impacts of Internet use are called for. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to contribute to the field of social science by investigating associations among the prevalence of Internet use impact on children to their behaviour and academic performance in Nigerian schools.

1.0 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The Internet is a global linking of computers that allows information transfer. The Internet was established in the early 1960s by the U.S. Department of Defence (Schneider, Evans, & Pinard, 2006), primarily for military purposes. Since then, the continual improvement of the Internet technology has provided an extraordinary level of public accessibility to a wide range of forms of communication, e.g. intra-organisational and inter-organisational email; data storage, management and transfer; social websites like Facebook; text messaging such as Twitter, and so forth.

The internet today is the major source of information in today global age, which give quick access to billions of information storage in a database with the click of  hypertext links to read on desired information, which everyone have access to information including the secondary school student to enhance academic performance.

Increasing numbers of people worldwide are using the Internet (1,574,313,184 as of December 31, 2008). It has been recently reported that young people today spend a significant amount of time on the Internet for multiple purposes.

Internet is a global system of interconnected computers that uses the standard internet protocol suite (TCPT/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide (Wikipedia, 2011). Castells, (1996) it is a network of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government computer networks linked by a broad array of electronic and optical networking technologies.

In 2016, the world‟s Internet use was 49.2% of 3,611,375,813 users of the population of 7,340,093,980. While this may not seem like a very large portion of the world‟s population, the growth in the use of the Internet has been dramatic.

Castells, (2001) defines the internet as a worldwide interconnection of computers and computer networks that facilitates the sharing of exchange of information among users.

Wikipedia, (2011) explains that the web carries a vast range of information resources and services to support traditional communication media including telephone, cinema and redefined by the internet, giving birth to new services such as voice over internet protocol (VOIP).

According to the Wikipedia, (2011) newspapers, books and other print media are adapting to website technology or are reshaped into blogging and web feeds. The internet has enabled or accelerated new forms of human interactions through instant messaging, internet for a , and social networking oppapers. Com/essays/2003.

According to cheong and Morrison, (2008), the internet is allowing greater flexibility in working hours and locations, especially with the speed connections, especially with the speed connections and web applications. Also, the internet can now be accessed almost anywhere by numerous means especially through mobile internet devices, mobile phones, data cards, handheld game consoles and cellular routers which allow users to connect to the internet from anywhere there is a network supporting that device’s technology (Goldsborough, 2009).

Castells, (2001), asserts that within the limitations imposed by small screens and other limited facilities of such pocket-sized devices, services of the internet, including email and web, may be available. Services offered and wireless data transmission charges may be significantly higher than other access methods.

The internet is fast becoming the dominant means of communications and commerce in the 21^st century, its play the main role in changing communication throughout the world and also impacting on global economic system.

According to McLuhan, (1964) globalization has forever changed the world in which we live to a world that has become increasingly interconnected. McLuhan, [1964] also asserts that the internet is perhaps the most prominent tool that has facilitated the interconnectedness. Internet network has shortened the communication distance by dimension of time and places together, giving birth to form of social networks.

However, other investigators have suggested direct negative effects of Internet use on academic outcomes (Choi, 2007; Sirgy, Lee, & Bae, 2006). Excessive Internet use has been associated with problems with maintaining daily routines, school performance, and family relationships (Rickert, 2001)

This study accordingly focuses on the impact of internet on the behaviors and academic performance of secondary school student’s in Oxford international school. Delta state

This study is therefore interested in finding out how internet is changing behavior of secondary school students at Oxford international secondary school, Delta state.

1.2   STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The internet is not widely used among many of the secondary school students in Oxford international secondary school, because the internet to them is not teen’s friendly but is rather a matured networking page, but it is not like face book. In fact, web works quite differently from social networks: because instead of indicating a mutual relationship, but focuses on only one – way action, that means you want to receive information, in the form of website login. The students added that internet is more advanced in terms of language structure i.e. the complexity of the use of diction is quite different in web page in the sense that you cannot abbreviate spellings anyhow as in the mobile phone text spelling; rather you spell out and construct standard grammar.

1.3 OBJECTIVE/PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The central aim and objective of this research work is to assess the use of internet on behavioural and academic performance of its users (among secondary school children). This study has ten objectives as follows:-

1. To find out the impact of internet on the behavior and academic performance students.
2. Identify significant factors that may influence Internet use among secondary school students in Nigerian
3. Identify potential intervention strategies that may help to minimise harm of Internet Addiction (IA), particularly in the Nigerian context.
4. To find out the students reasons for the choice of the internet.
5. To find out what the students use the internet for.
6. To find out the ways by which the internet affects the students.
7. To find out the groups of students that uses internet as a social Networking site.
8. To find out why the groups uses internet
9. To find out if using internet affects the students.
10. To find out the ways by which the usage of internet affects the students.

1.4   RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What is the impact of internet on behavior and academic performance of secondary school?
2. What are the important factors that may influence IA among secondary school students aged from 11 to 19-years-old in Nigerian?
3. What intervention strategies are required to minimise the potentially harmful effects of Internet Addiction (IA) in the Nigerian context?
4. Why do you choose that internet?
5. What do you use that internet for?
6. In what ways have the internet affected you?
7. Which groups of students at Oxford international use the internet mostly?
8. Why do these groups of students use internet?
9. Does using internet affects students at Oxford international secondary school?
10. In what ways does using internet affects the students?

1.5   SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is significant to the teachers, parents and students. First of all, this study will help the teachers of the school to know the impact of internet has on their students, so as to assist them to enlighten and create awareness to the students on the possible effect it has on them. Secondly, it is of significant to parents in the sense that they will know the possible effects these web sites usage has on their children, so as to serve as watch-dog to their children on the usage of the internet. Thirdly, it will enable the students of the senior level so that they will be aware that, apart from the social benefits of this internet, using the sites more than necessary will pose possible dangers to their health.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study is limited to impact of internet on the behaviour of Oxford international school. Delta state students; the study tends to examine usage of internet on students if focuses on what the students use internet for, the groups of students that use internet; the ways the students that use internet and for what purposes. The target population focuses specifically the senior secondary school of the Oxford international school. Delta state.

1.7   Limitations of Study

This research used a mixed methods approach including using a modified Delphi Technique, an online survey of secondary school students and in-depth interviews to investigate Internet use and its impact among students in secondary schools in Nigeria in performance and behaviour. There are limitations to this study that may reduce the generalizability of any conclusions reached:

1. The research examined the nature of participants in a particular area of Delta State. It might be difficult to generalise the study’s findings further than the country in which the research was conducted because each society and culture has its own demographic profile and social norms that may influence student behaviour with regard to Internet use.
2. The survey format limited the researcher’s ability to be certain about what may have been meant by any individual respondent when answering close-ended and semi-structured open-ended questions. However, the in-depth interviews with 600 survey cohort students were designed to strengthen the researcher’s understanding of the overall survey responses.

Related Project Topics :