Block Adam Block Professor Lago College Writing 7 November 2013 ROUGH DRAFT The Effect of the Computer/Internet

on College Students

For me personally, online video games and social media had a tremendous impact on my academic performance in my high school career. I started playing an online competitive video game in the spring of my freshman year of high school and was sucked in by it very quickly. The more I got in to it, the more I was skipping club activities, sports practice and socializing with my friends. It eventually got to the point where I was spending so much time playing that I eventually dropped all of my clubs and sports by junior year. My parents were worried about me quitting all of my sports and activities, but I always justified it to them by making money in winning game tournaments and by telling them I was more talented at this game than anything else. I spent about six hours a day on weekdays and about eight hours a day on weekends practicing this game, which was about between thirty and forty hours per week. By my senior year I had gotten close to the ten thousand hour mark and was top 50 in North America at this game. As a result, this game had pretty much taken over my life. When I was in class, I was thinking about the game and when I was sleeping, I was often dreaming about it. When I wasnt playing I was reading the games community news websites and my gamer friends social medias. Consequently, my grades had gotten progressively lower

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and lower throughout high school, I even lied to my parents about my grades a couple of times by creating a fake report card. However one day, for my own good, they forced me to completely stop playing when they found out I failed a class in my senior year. I believe if I had not started playing this game, I would have gotten all As and Bs and that my high school career would have been completely different. In the near future, high schools and college campuses should focus less on anti rape/alcohol courses and more on teaching students to use the Internet in a responsible manner. If they think that rape and alcohol are the only main threat to a students academic career, they are completely wrong. I would do anything to go back and talk to the Adam Block of four years ago and try to convince myself of what I was getting into. In all honesty, I was the perfect example of an Internet/computer addict and I never really knew or consciously admitted it until I was a senior in high school. Although the definition of an Internet addict is debatable, some signs and symptoms of an Internet addict include, having trouble completing tasks at work or at home, losing track of time online, isolation from family and friends, and feeling guilty and defensive about internet use (Tsitsika 10). I had all of these signs and symptoms. I would put off doing my work for gaming, I would get so sucked into my game that I would think the time is ten oclock at night when its really two o clock in the morning, I was spending more time with online friends and less time with real life friends and I would lie to my parents about my time on the internet and my time studying. Although I may be an outlier when it comes addiction to the Internet and games, I am not the only one who is greatly impacted by internet/computer addiction. According to the National Survey of Student Engagement, completed by twenty-seven thousand

Block first year students, about nearly one-third of males and one fourth of females reported playing video games more than sixteen hours per week and about twenty-four percent using social media more than sixteen hours per week (NSSE). Not surprisingly, in the same survey, students who played little to no video games were noticeably to be better prepared for college than the students who played sixteen or more hours per week.

However, only eight percent of males played zero hours of games per week, which means video games are played regularly by ninety two percent of males in college. Now according to William Pattersons Unless Theres Consent course, one out of five women will be raped in their lifetime. To conclude, unhealthy use of the Internet has become more common in teenagers and college students. This has become a serious issue, causing many normal A-B grade students to drop out of college. Whether it be social media or online video games, overuse of either of the two can have a serious impact on the lives of high school and students, causing many parents to receive that unexpected warning letter that their son/daughter is failing out of school. Rape and alcohol are not the only issues on college campuses anymore and schools need to adapt to address this rising issue. If we do not see a change, the one third of students playing games more than 16 hours per week will become two thirds very soon.

Block Works Cited Saville, Bryan K., et al. "INTERNET ADDICTION AND DELAY DISCOUNTING IN COLLEGE STUDENTS." The Psychological Record 60.2 (2010): 273-86. ProQuest. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

Razieh, Jalalinejad, et al. "THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERNET ADDICTION AND ANXIETY IN THE UNIVERSITIES STUDENTS." Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research In Business 4.1 (2012): 942-9. ProQuest. Web. 14 Nov. 2013. Tsitsika, Artemis; Janikian, Mari; Greydanus, Donald E.. Internet Addiction : A Public Health Concern in Adolescence. Hauppauge, NY, USA: Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2013. p 3. http://site.ebrary.com/lib/wpunj/Doc?id=10738773&ppg=23 Copyright 2013. Nova Science Publishers, Inc.. All rights reserved. National Survey of Student Engagement. N.p., 1 Feb. 2012. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. <http://cpr.iub.edu/uploads/2012_FYE_Video%20Games.pdf>.