Essay Sample on the Impact of the Internet in Society

Introduction

In recent years, the Internet has greatly influenced almost the entire aspects of society concerning its influences on human behavior and practices. The increased number of users has rendered it to be an integral part of people's daily operation in this modern era. About 55% of the globe have access to the internet following its consumption in wide dimensions of life. Since its introduction, the internet has exponentially grown due to the availability of cheap web-enabled devices. Statistics indicate that there are approximately 2.5 billion people around the world have access to the internet thus making it a major commodity in the current generation. The dominance implies the internet has had an addictive impact among its users globally due to its overuse. Notably, individuals spend an average of five hours of their day browsing the web with statistics indicating an increase in the trend. Internet addiction is evolving as a mental disorder concerning its misuse among subscribers. Internet addiction affects lives because it influences waste of time, disruption of lifestyle and inculcates undesirable behaviors in peoples' lives.

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Internet addiction is a contemporary issue that is viewed according to lifestyle, age groups and other factors that individuals exhibit in their specific settings concerning its consumption. According to Tai-Kuei, (46), the prevalence of internet addiction varies according to age, race, and sex in various environments globally. However, web addiction is severe among college students according to their over-reliance in various confines of life. Following its diverse uses, a considerable number of individuals in universities and other professions have recorded the prevalence of personality disorders concerning their expressions on the web and real-life situations. Specifically, Tai (64) note that excess internet consumption prompts users to emulate lives and practices that are opposite to their real lives off the web. Just like peer pressure, internet addiction influence users to embrace behaviors that contravene their personalities.

Subsequently, internet addiction has led to psychological conditions that affect an individual's normal life activities. Farah Ghinwa (46) elaborate that excessive use of the internet is associated with factors which include poor quality of sleep based on longer hours that subscribers spend surfing the web. Continually, internet overuse is also attributed to dangerous acts such as suicide according to individuals' perceptions of events around them. Farah (58) further note that web consumption also leads to health issues associated with physical challenges such as backaches and migraines. Besides causing body pains, internet overuse is also related to overweight conditions such as obesity due to the amount of time that individuals spend sitting. According to Tai (75), the interesting features of the web such as stories, breaking news, pictures, and videos entice users to sit for a long hour. Following the importance of engaging in exercises to reinforce the bodies' function and immunity, individuals who spend much time on the web risk suffering overweight conditions due to their reluctance to engage in exercise. Majorly, 59 of the respondents engaged in the study confessed that they have been experiencing overweight conditions due to overindulgence on the internet.

Continually, internet consumption is also associated with personal challenges such as mood disorders and low self-esteem among others. In particular, the types of relationships and engagements that individual's exhibit on the web affects how they view themselves according to their positions in society. In particular, the hypothesis stipulates that internet addiction could be a primary concern among university medical students because it affects how they perceive each other according to their relationships. Majorly, many students exhibit personality's disorders in their attempts to compete with peers who express different behaviors on the web. According to Tai (57), the competition to achieve a perfect lifestyle has affected how university learners express themselves. Notably, students who are addicted to the internet spend their time taking pictures and editing their videos to depict imaginary moments. Accordingly, the addiction has greatly affected medical students who are aiming at becoming health professionals by hindering them from engaging in their studies hence disrupting their long-term goals leading to some detrimental consequences to them and the society as a whole.

The rate of internet addiction is also perceived as a major effect on students' confidence concerning their practices and behaviors in various confines of life. Farah (73) elaborate that learners who spend much time in the internet lack confidence because they strive to act and behave according to peoples' expectations. A cross-sectional study was carried out between March and June 2017 in a medical college to ascertain how the internet has affected the subjects' confidence. The study involved both male and female medical students who were active internet users for the past three years. Tai (67) explains that they were inducted through proportionate quota sampling that aimed to determine their behaviors in various confines of internet addiction. The estimated percentage of girls and boys who participated were 60% and 40% respectively. The level of confidence was 95% with a bound error of 5%. The social networking sites included video chatting, picture sharing, blogging, entertainment sites. Young's internet addiction test was validated and administered using a questionnaire for this study after getting an informed consent. The questionnaire consisted 20 close-ended questions which responses were on five Likert Scale items. The study covered the degree to which the excessive use of internet affected social life, feelings, sleeping patterns, productivity, and other daily routines.

A student was classified as an internet addict if his or her score was above 20. After prior testing 10% of a similar sample, the data was gathered and cross-checked randomly using random checking. The variables were then summarized by frequencies percentages. According to Ahmer Zaeema, and Sana Tanzil (45), elaborate that the Chi-square was used to find the difference between genders, public and private institutes with internet addiction. Finally, Fisher's Exact text that was used to determine the difference within internet addiction groups and psychosocial behavioral patterns. Out of the total number of participants, 40% were males while 60% were females. Therefore, since they were 340 in number, the number of girls was 204 while boys were 136. These students belonged to both the private as well as the public medical college. The results showed that more than two thirds (95%) of the participants owned a Facebook profile while 60% were Skype users. Majority of them reported that their major reason for logging on to the social media sites was to get the latest news update. About 4% reported stalking as another probable reason.

Consequently, the rate of internet addiction was measured among couples to determine how it affected their relationships in different confines. Tai (23), illustrate that internet impacts relations significantly concerning various kinds of relationships that individuals embrace. Notably, web addiction has affected dating couples according to their expressions and demands from each other. While an individual might prefer to keep his/her relationship a secret, Tai (36) elaborate that a partner might wish to keep the affair public for personal reasons. Based on their frequent internet consumption, a person might decide to display his/her relationship in the public hence annoying their partners prefer privacy, Ahmer (34) remark that internet addiction has led to breakage of relationships considering how individuals treat their loved ones. In particular, 68% of the respondents engaged in the study confessed that their past relationship was disrupted due to internet addiction. Similarly, 75% of the respondents admitted that their present relationships are shaky due to their partner's excess internet consumption.

Further, internet addiction is attributed to poor reading skills among individuals according to their interactions with different texts. Despite the convenience of accessing reading materials in soft copy, Farah (58) assert that people who cherish the internet as a reading platform lose much compared to their counterparts who prefer hard copy materials. In particular, people who read from the web lack the luxury of concentrating in a text due to the availability of diverse information. Unlike print readers who can concentrate on a specific text to its completion, internet addiction disrupts individuals from reading a text to the end due to the availability of interesting stories and advertisements that disrupts the readers' attention. Based on the study, 67% of the subjects confessed that their reading skills have been affected by excessive internet use. Additionally, 56% admitted that adverts and other pop-ups disrupt them from concentrating as they explore various texts of the web. The studies display that internet addiction has major effects on peoples' reading skills according to its diverse uses.

Internet addiction also influences how individuals perceive things in their environments based on their aspirations. According to Tai (67), overindulgence on the internet affects how people think based on practices that their friends and admirers display on their timelines. Specifically, celebrities have had diverse effects on how internet addicts think and behave in their different environments. Besides the fashion industry that impacts how internet addicts dress, practices expressed by renowned individuals also impacts behavior. The study by Ahmer (201) elaborates that 74% of university students who are internet addicts tend to emulate behaviors that their favorite celebrities display in their specific confines of art. Similarly, 58% of the respondents confessed that internet addiction has influenced their ways of thinking by cherishing aesthetic and deviant behaviors to express themselves.

Conclusion

In summary, the study observed that there is a high burden of excessive use of the internet in medical undergraduates in colleges. Internet addiction is an umbrella term that refers to the compulsive need to spend a significant deal of time on the internet, especially to the point when work, health such significant impairments and distress or relationships are affected. internet addiction was found to be more prevalent among females as compared to their male counterparts. The study also presents that internet addiction affects how individuals behave and perceive things in their societies. Further, respondents in the research admit that internet addiction has affected their reading skills due to the availability of such information, advertisement, and popups. Specifically, the trends affect their concentration due to the urge to learn to acquire more information in one setting. The study also ascertained that internet addiction has affected their relationships and associations with friends and loved ones. The study forecasts more severe internet addicts in the near future. Hence it should be considered one of the major emerging mental health concern.

Works Cited

Farah, Ghinwa Halawi1. Internet Addiction and Relationships with Insomnia, Anxiety, Depression, Stress, and Self-Esteem in University Students: A Cross-Sectional Designed Study. (2016).

Tai-Kuei, Yu & Cheng-Min Chao. Internet Misconduct Impact Adolescent Mental Health in Taiwan: The Moderating Roles of Internet Addiction. International Journal of Mental Health Addiction (2016) 14:921-936 doi 10.1007/s11469-016...