Project

In

English

Submitted

By:
Internet access must be limited to students
By: Victor James C. Bajas

I. Introduction

“Internet Access” a gateway to the worldwide web: social media, you tube,
games, other entertainments and lot of information that everyone must know can be
access here. Today, almost everyone is connected to the internet. Even children can be
found engrossed in their own tablets and students nowadays have their own cellphones.
So it’s no wonder why the Internet have immensely woven itself in the lives of people,
relying on the ‘net for many things such as socialization, study, entertainment, and
current events. However we cannot deny the fact that spending a lot of time on the
Internet can do more harm than good especially for students. The internet really affects
students both negatively and positively.

Internet becomes a vital part in our daily lives. Without internet, our lives become
dull. We cannot deny the fact that we rely on social media to make our life colourful.
Some of us rely on internet to go with their different aspects of life such as; social,
intellectual, or even financial. Students rely on internet for their home works, school
projects and even entertainment that make their lives busy. Internet really makes our
daily lives complete. But, while the internet can be a reliable resource to help them with
homework and school project, things can easily turn downhill when time on the internet
overtakes time for study and school.

II. Body

Let’s take a look at how the internet affects students negatively. First, face to
face social skills are not exercised. At this stage of students’ life, they are learning about
the world around them. Research issued in the International Journal of Organizational
Design and Engineering has stated that the face to face communication in teamwork
helps people build mutual trust, creative and provide a higher result. While the Internet
is supposed to bring people together, the fact that people only talk online instead of
making an effort to meet each other is sending wrong messages to students and
children. According to “The Washington Post” survey and its result, about 6% of
participants replied that their relationships got hurt as a consequence of excessive
Internet use. It is believed that some people who prefer online chatting because it
somehow separates them from the real world. The internet affects students by depriving
them of face-to-face, genuine communications that can teach them.

Internet also lessens time of studying and family affair. Time is spent on the
internet instead of studying. The Washington Post revealed that 9% attempted to hide
“nonessential Internet use.” In addition, Stanford University also conducted a study
showing that 12.4 percent of participants stayed online for a longer time than they
intended very often. There’s what is called nonessential internet use, when people tend
to aimlessly surf the internet for information that they can’t even retain or remember
after hours in a session. That’s what students do as well. The time in front of the
computer is like being sucked in a black hole and this time would’ve been better spent
doing more worthwhile and productive things that help hone students’ minds and skills.
Excessive internet usage also steals away time for family. For example, instead of
enjoying dinner time together, children are engrossed in their devices even while on the
dining table.

Students also tend to sleeplessness and internet addiction. Some students stay
up late at night just poring over random things on the internet. This is very harmful to the
growing minds of students. Also, when they wake up the next day, they have low energy
and tend to not pay attention or even fall asleep in class. Those who spend more time
on line have an increased risk for developing internet addiction, which can derail the
focus and the life of students. The internet affects students by feeding them with
mindless data that can suck them in, making them vulnerable to getting addicted.

Furthermore, it can trigger cheating practice and limit student’s creativity.

Cheating can trigger since homework and other school projects can be copied right off
the internet, making cheating very easy to do with just a few clicks. Academic fraud and
plagiarism is common in school when students can look for ready-made answers on the
internet. This kind of behavior breeds a culture of cheating and easy ways out of any
problem. It also decreases creativity because everything can be found on the internet,
students don’t have to make more efforts or look for more ways to know the answer to
homework, or even to their own questions. With the internet, they don’t need to pay any
more attention, or think, or make more effort, because everything they need to know is
just within a click of a button.

Lastly, internet can trigger moral corruption. Everything can be found on the
internet and this also is true for inappropriate things. Students who are always on the
internet are exposing themselves to material that can corrupt them. These things can
result to bad mental and behavioral development in these students. In this case, the
internet affects students by feeding them unfiltered information that are harmful for
them.

III. Conclusion

Many people are still agreed that internet has positive impact to education by
helping students in providing enough information in all aspects of life. (Prominent
among its benefits is the impact it has had on the education sector. Students can now
gain access to innumerable research papers, apart from getting latest updates in the
field of science and technology.) But as they say, "With great power comes great
responsibility", Internet has created new challenges for the society and most threatening
among these is the impact it has had on children. We cannot deny the fact that the
above mentioned negative effects are serious and can really damage student’s life if not
properly given enough attention.

Limiting student’s access to internet can really help students to cope up and even
avoid those negative impacts that have mentioned above. Knowing the negative
impacts of internet to student’s lives, it’s up to both parents and teachers to ensure that
students have limited access to internet and materials on the web. It is also up to them
to ensure that students are using their time on the web responsibly.