The internet revolution has changed the world in many ways and all of them were not for good. This fact was reaffirmed by a study that reveals that excessive use of digital technology by students makes them less motivated towards their studies and such students tend to be more anxious about exam tests.
The research found a negative relationship between internet addiction and motivation to study. Students reporting more internet addiction also found it harder to organise their learning productively and were more anxious about their upcoming tests.
“The results suggest that students with high levels of internet addiction may be particularly at risk from lower motivations to study, and, hence, lower actual academic performance,” said study researcher Phil Reed from Swansea University in the UK.
This effect was made worse by the increased feelings of loneliness that the use of digital technology produced, said the study, published in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, reports Indiatoday.in.
For the findings, 285 university students, enrolled in a range of health-related degree courses, participated in the study. They were assessed for their use of digital technology, their study skills and motivation, anxiety, and loneliness.
Correlation between time students spend on the internet and its effects
About 25 percent of the students reported that they spent over four hours a day online, with the rest indicating that they spent between one to three hours a day.
The main uses of the internet by the student sample were social networking (40 percent) and information seeking (30 percent), the researchers said.
In addition to the links between levels of internet addiction and poor study motivation and ability, internet addiction was found to be associated with increased loneliness.
Loneliness can make studying harder for students
The results of the study indicate that loneliness, in turn, made studying harder for the students. The study suggests that loneliness plays a large role in positive feelings about academic life in higher education.
The poorer social interactions that are known to be associated with internet addiction make loneliness worse, which in turn, impact on motivation to engage in a highly social educational environment such as a university, said the researchers.
Comments are closed.