Chapter 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

Review of Related Literature Ul Haq & Chand (2012) investigated the usage and popularity

of famous social media network (Facebook) among university students with special focus on the

gender based comparison and the impact of the selected social medium on their academic

performance. The two researchers evaluate the pattern and frequency of Facebook use among

university students while focusing gender that majority of the users (61%) agree that this social

medium has adverse effects on their academic performance. Further analysis reveals that among

these 61%, majority of the respondents were male. In addition to adverse effects of Facebook on

academic performance, there was also an opinion that use of Facebook makes it hard for them to

perform the best on their career performance. However the researcher feels that the later opinion

is not very clear and established and needs further investigation. These research analysis s hows

that using social media especially in terms of using Facebook is equally popular among male and

female student of the university under study. The researchers evaluate that majority of the users

agree that these social medium has adverse effects on their academic performance. These study

related in our study in the way of investigating about the effects of social media on their academic

achievements among students. They are both undertaking through analyzing a random sample of

respondents. Hamat, Embi, & Hassan (2012) studied the use of social networking platforms among

undergraduate and postgraduate students of Malaysian institutes of higher education. This

qualitative research collected data on 6358 student respondents through a self-administered

questionnaire and analyzed this data to make observations on the use of social networking sites

among them. The study also collects opinion of students about the impacts of social medium on

their academic performance. One of the very significant findings of the study is about the use of
social networking sites for the purpose of learning. Majority of the respondents agree that they use

SNSs as informal learning tool and that it helps them connect to their friends and peers to get help

regarding their studies. However, in case of interaction with teachers, an equal split of opposite

opinions exist. This study also supports the most common finding of majority of well-structured

studies that use of social networking sites has no significantly negative impact on the students’

academic performance. They further state that the possibility of some other factors like social

media addiction, more time on internet, chatting, cognitive absorption etc. linked with the use of

internet or specifically social networking sites may cause poor academic performance. The above

literature review shows that other students are using social media for their learning, they use it as

a learning tool. It has a significant on our study because the use of social media can affect the

academic performance in a positive and negative way. Social media addiction is the top negative

effect that may cause poor academic performance. Negussie & Ketema (2014) further investigated

if there is any impact of using Facebook while accessing through different devices. Among a

variety of devices, it was found that the correlation between using Facebook on mobile devices

and students grades is highly negative as compared to using Facebook on other devices. This

adverse effect is explained by the fact that using cellphones for social networking activities may

involve multitasking and all students are not equally efficient in multitasking skills. The study

suggests, that students must be encouraged to use social networking sites for educational purposes

instead of blocking these platforms in the educational premises. These study has a correlation in

our study because they both proving that using social media has a big impact in the academic

achievement among students. Rouis, Limayem, & Salehi-Sangari (2011) investigate the effects of

using Facebook on academic performance of undergraduate students at Lulea University of

Technology Sweden in relation to their personality traits. The proposed research model tests how
Facebook usage effects performance of students with different personality traits. In addition the

research tries to justify the relationship among the three i.e. Facebook usage, personality traits and

academic performance. Their analysis of 239 students’ data reveals very significant results . This

research establishes that using Facebook has strong negative impact on academic performance of

students with extrovert personalities. However, factor of self-regulation among students greatly

reduces this negative impact as they have high level of effective self-control while using social

media platforms. Cognitive absorption, which defines of deep involvement, is another personality

factor taken into consideration while undertaking this research. Rouis, Limayem & Salehi-Sangari

(2011) successfully make the observation that extent of cognitive absorption determines the

frequency and duration of social media usage. However, they add that level of cognitive absorption

is turn defined by self-control and other personality factors. While multitasking skills do nothing

to reduce frequency and use of social media among students, they moderate the effects of social

media o reveals that among these students’ performance by tuning the cognitive absorption.
 Chapter 3

Methodology

In today’s world, there is a lot of hype surrounding social media — unsurprisingly,

considering the medium itself created the very concept of going viral. According to the Gartner

hype curve for new technologies, a period of hype and inflated expectations is followed by the

“trough of disillusionment” during which we become more critical of a new concept or technology

we’ve bought into and believed in its inherent value. Questions ensue. Does it really do what it

promised? How do I know I can trust this data? Am I getting ROI out of this? It’s during this latter

phase where the new technology has to mature and prove that it is worthy to become a stable,

ongoing part of our world. This is where I believe social media is today, and now is the time for

social to prove its credentials as a research methodology. Hype Cycle.jpg In my experience, it

doesn’t take much to convince people that there is huge potential value within social data for

understanding consumers more deeply. It’s a bit of a no-brainer, in theory, that all of this

unprompted conversation would contain insights into how people think and feel, what they care

about, what they’re worried about, and what they need and want. Any form of consumer research

is at best a version of the true experiences of groups of individuals. It’s impossible for any one

method to perfectly encapsulate and understand complex human experience. The more sources in

your research mix, the more accurate the picture you’re building will become. So, while I would

never suggest that social should replace other forms of market research, it would certainly be a

missed opportunity to exclude this incredibly rich new data source from your research mix.
 CHAPTER 2

RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

These researches we study about the psychological factor, whether that is factor to the

online game addiction among students. Unlike with substance abuse, the biological aspect of

videogame addiction is uncertain. Research suggests gambling elevates dopamine, but there’s

more to addiction than brain chemistry (Rooij, Online video game addiction: identification of

addicted,2010). The addict suffers from a psychological component to the addiction. Online

gaming allows a person to escape the real world and change the perception of self-worth (Rooij,

Online video game addiction: identification of addicted, 2010). An online gaming addiction is not

that far from drug addiction. Both are searching for a way to make they feel better. The lure of a

fantasy world is especially pertinent to online role-playing games. These are games in which a

player assumes the role of a fictional character and interacts with other players in a virtual

world. An intelligent child who is unpopular at school can feel dominant in the game. The virtual

life becomes more appealing than real life. Too much gaming may seem relatively harmless

compared with the dangers of a drug overdose, but experts say video game addiction can ruin lives.

Children who play four to five hours per day have no time for socializing, doing homework, or

playing sports leaving little time for normal social development. According to Lan Ying Huang

(2003), by playing the online game features online gamer participants may view the games as

source of providing diversion and filling time. “The biggest risk factor for pathological video game

useseems to be playing games to escape from daily life,” said Joe Hilgard, lead author of the study

and a doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychological Sciences at Missouri. “Individuals

who play games to get away from their lives or to pretend to be other people seem to be those most
at-risk for becoming part of a vicious cycle. These gamers avoid their problems by playing games,

which in turn interferes with their lives because they’re so busy playing games (Peters 7 et al,

2007). Internet addiction gives the gamer to the unique psychological properties which is the users

increase their use of these internet services, the utility they gain from each usage does not diminish,

leading not only to self-destructive addiction but also to social ills. When a problem, playing video

games can interfere with real-life obligations such as work, and players can end up lying about

playing video games. The study found that “problematic” video game use can have similar effects

as other addictive activities, such as abusing alcohol (Inwon Kang,2011).

Games addiction shows the bad effect among the people nowadays. Addiction to the internet shares

some of negative aspects of substance addiction and has been shown to lead to consequences such

as failing school, family and relationship problem (Brian. D. NG, M.S & Peter. W. H, 2005). It

can make the people who has addicted will feel that the games can provide opportunities for

achievement, freedom and even a connection to the players. Those benefits trumped a shallow

sense of fun, which doesn’t keep gamers as interested (online gamers anonymous, 2008). The role

of media in advertising the games also make more cause why the games addicted will be more

interested with those games. In 2005, advertiser spent $80 million to reach game players, this

spending is expected to top $400 by 2009 (Park Associate 2006).

 Internet addiction is a relatively new phenomenon in which social workers and

psychologists are unaware of and are thus unprepared to treat at present. Mu (2006) points out that

some of the main symptoms of Internet and online game addictions, including the decrease in

friend and face-to-face interactions with others, become infrequent while the member of friends

in the virtual world exponentially increases. Ultimately, the psychokinesis becomes weaker and

weaker over time. This means that after a long time of playing online games, the players begin to

realize the dangers of online gaming. At this point players generally try to play less as they try to

orient themselves back to the demands of society. However this is mostly unsuccessful as it almost

always ends up failing. Zhang (2007) and Zhou (2007), who also researched on the same topic,

reported different results on the online game addiction and the finding supported the same

symptoms. With regards to undergraduate students who were addicted to the Internet or online

games, Zhang (2007) indicated that most of these students had bad grades in their universities.

Moreover, Zhou (2007) stated that the physical symptoms of Internet and online game addiction

were cervical spondylitis, neurasthenia and insomnia. Cervical spondylitis, a fairly common

symptom of many MMOG players, is essentially a spinal injury which results from keeping the

same sitting position for hours while playing games. This situation is more often than not leads to

injuries to the cervical vertebra on the spinal cord. Neurasthenia on the other hand is a neurological

disorder that results from when players engage in hours and hours of game playing with no

virtually sleep intervals in between. Even though players may end up playing games for a long

time before going to sleep, their brains still keep running and experiencing phantom excitement

from playing games even when they are asleep. This causes sleep sensitivity and disorders which

induce addicted players to wake up several times during the night and as such this leads them

suffering from insomnia which can cause mental anxiety and eventually result in nervous
breakdowns and general tiredness. Once the nature of physical and mental symptoms that manifest

in MMOG addicts had been determined, we perused in various literatures on this topic to discover

the ways through these addiction could be evaluated. One of the useful information sources was

obtained from Young (1999), who conducted a study aimed at enabling social workers to better

understand, detect and treat Internet addiction. The research by Young focused on the

complications that precede an Internet addiction diagnosis. With regards to this research it is

relevant in determining the criterion through which to evaluate our interviewees. It would help us

to determine whether the individuals were addicted to online games or not. To create a more

holistic point of view this thesis also aims to identify the negative consequences associated with

using the Internet and the ways to assess and identify the reasons causing the onset of pathological

Internet use.

It is widely believed that game players who spend playing too many hours (above 10 hours

a day) are at high risk of being addicted to video games (Anand, 2007). Previous studies have

shown that video game addiction among adolescents gamers is highly correlated with psychosocial

problems such as time spent on games (i.e., usage), life satisfaction, loneliness, social competence

, and aggression (Lemmens et al., 2009). For example, Peters and Malesky (2008) further support

the relationship between addiction of World of Warcraft players to the game and the time they

spend playing online, the relationship that is also supported among adolescents who are addicted

to online games in general (Gentile, 2009; Xu et al., 2012). However, due to the lack of research

on the causal relationship among game addiction and these psychosocial variables, the authors

avoid making conclusions regarding the direction of the relationships. Gentile (2009), compare

pathological gamers versus non-pathological gamers among 1,178 American adolescents (aged

between 8 and 18) regarding their psychosocial behaviour. The results show that pathological
gamers are twice as likely as non-pathological gamers to have attention problems such as attention

deficit disorder. However, the author avoids making conclusion regarding the direction of causality

between pathological gameplay and attention problems. In a study on a large sample of adolescents

(13-16 years olds) in the Netherlands, van Rooij et al. (2011) show that compared to non-addicts,

video game addicts have significantly higher levels of depressive moods, loneliness and

significantly lower levels of self-esteem. In this study, the results of this comparison for social

anxiety level is not significant.

 CHAPTER 3
METHODOLOGY

As the title indicates this piece of work is concerned with trying to find the pleasures that

may exist within the parameters of the video game. The methodology employed had to consider

issues such as the sensitivity of the subject within society, the fragmentation and interdisciplinary

nature of the lack of academic information and the difficulties of pinning down a definition of

pleasure. As mentioned in the earlier chapter the video game can be considered as having been

plagued by value judgements and scaremongering terms associated with ‘moral panics’ such as

‘addiction’, although this assumption may be in part to the lack of good quality research in favour

of part-time theorists or ‘moral entrepreneurs’. However it is acknowledged that both theory and

research have merit, ‘for innovative thinking and a meticulous attention to the detail of data

gathering characterise the practice of social research.

As previously discussed video games were born in the late sixties and early seventies thus

these child game players have now matured in to adults who according to the ISDA 2001 report

are still playing games. The questionnaire was aimed at the adults who have greater playing

experience and the disposable income to frequently participate in video gaming. This piece rather

than an external, valued judgement from a non-player is a genuine attempt at an informed internal

investigation by an avid games player. As Evered and Lewis posit an, ‘inquiry from the inside

rather than an inquiry from the outside’.

Within the umbrella term ‘Methodology there are two distinct classifications of research

‘quantitative’ and ‘qualitative’ although that is not to say that research cannot contain elements of

both. Exploration of both schools of thought will enhance the understanding of the method

undertaken at any given time. Baxter, Hughes and Tight posit,

This does beg the question of whether social aspects of life or in this case the pleasures of video

games can be solely represented in a numerical fashion? An earlier discussion that has raised the

difficulties of quantifying pleasure per se would seem to negate the use of such a method.

Quantitative research is also as stated usually large-scale which is not only expensive in manpower

but also financially something that this small-scale study can ill afford. Although it is recognised

that certain information gathered quantitatively is useful but for this study it will be left to the

professionals who have more adequate resources such as the Interactive Digital Software

Association. (See Apendix 4 for the full report.) Therefore a qualitative study was generally

employed which is, ‘more open and responsive to its subject’. (Best and Kahn. 1989) Further

Baxter et al offer qualitative research as,is more concerned that ‘satisfactory explanations of social

activities [video game pleasures] require a substantial appreciation of the perspectives, culture and

world-views of the actors [video game players] involved’. (Burgess. 1984) One of the criticisms

of qualitative research is that it is ‘impressionistic’ and ‘non-verifiable’, (Allan and Skinner. 1991)

although it is the remit of the researcher to assume a position of naivety and therefore be open to

new ideas or suggestions. As such perhaps good research is impressionistic (Allan et al. 1991) but

as to it being non-verifiable is to oversimplify the nature of the research. The key aspect of science

is verification and the ability to test empirical evidence by replication, which it is agreed cannot

be totally achieved by qualitative methods alone. However, the beauty of qualitative research lies

in its flexibility and that a researcher can develop themes as and when they arise, exploring avenues
that fall outside ‘the previously set formula’ (Allan et al. 1991:182) It is necessary to do this

especially when exploring new areas, or unknown worlds. The manner in which one particular

researcher asks a question and then develops it makes the data collected less likely to be replicated

and perhaps more prone to bias. This does make the notion of replication very difficult to achieve

but those who favour this approach argue that the quality of the data gathered affords a greater,

‘reflexivity about the theoretical and conceptual assumptions being made than do those methods

which produce apparently more reliable, highly structured data’. (Allan et al. 1991:182) This in-

depth style could not be facilitated had a more large-scale method been employed especially on a

students budget.