by Joannalisa Baun Jalong (47098)
It
is undeniable that the world now is changing and the advancement of technology
is taking place now. As the time passes, we can see most of us are unbreakable
from our ultimate and advancing devices such as the smartphones. Everywhere and
anywhere it can be seen that people are always holding their smartphones and they
will never get tired of it, and are able to go online on the Internet all day.
In
a research done by Young (2004), it is hard to define “Internet Addiction” and
there are many arguments that the term “addiction” should only fit for people
that are doing drugs. Over time, the term “Internet Addiction” is recognized as
legitimate disorder grew as there are many online users that become addicted to
the Internet.
To
understand more about this Internet addiction among us, our group had conducted
a survey to study the addiction of Internet among people. On this survey of
Internet addiction, we conduct it using questionnaire and pass it to 60
respondents. The questionnaire that we had passes to be given to public and it
is open for anyone to answer it.
In
our questionnaire, we had asked related question that lead to Internet addiction
such as the spending time for online, the negligence towards works, the purpose
of using the Internet and also their opinion on how is the life without
Internet.
Young
(1999) also conducted a survey regarding this Internet addiction and she posted
eight questions related to it.
http://netaddiction.com/articles/symptoms.pdf (For further reading, click on the link of the article)
From
our 60 respondents, there are mostly females with the total of 34 (61.8%) and
males with the total of 15 (27.3%). For the total of age, most of our
respondents are with the age of 23 (26.7%) and the least are with the age of 40
(1.7%).
 |
| Figure 1: Age or respondents |
 |
| Figure 2: Gender of respondents |
From
all the responses that we had also, most of the respondents did not take that
much time in using Internet. Our respondents spend about two to three hours on
social media per day with the total of 25 (41.7%) and the least with the total
of 7 (11.7%) are the respondents that spent less than one hour. From this usage
of time on social media, it can be seen that our respondents are not that
addicted to the Internet as they usually spend two to three hours. Some may
spend more than five hours which are with total of 16 (26.7%). According to
Young (1999), time spending in using Internet is not the direct definition of
“Internet Addiction” but most likely it is the users that spent about forty to
eighty hours per week in which when changed o days, it is the users that spend
more than 5 hours are the one that addicted to Internet.
 |
| Figure 3: Hours spend on social media per day |
Aside
surveying the time spent on Internet, we also ask the respondents if they ever
stay longer that they intended when go online using the Internet. Most of them
say “Yes” as the answer with the percentage of 58.3% and the least says “No”
with the percentage of 18.3%. Being on the Internet longer than intended also,
causes the respondents to neglect their works and also causes lack of sleep. Most
of the respondents say “Yes” as the answer to the lack of sleep due to online
with the percentage of 51.7% and the least says “Maybe” with the percentage of
15%. This shows that some respondents do not really estimated the time that
they spend when online. Besides, most of the respondents stated that they are
not neglecting their work although they are online on the Internet all the time.
This is shown when most of the respondents say “No” as the answer with the
percentage of 41.7% and the least with the percentage of 26.7% for the answer of
“Maybe”.
 |
| Figure 4: Staying longer than intended when online |
 |
| Figure 5: Online until late night and causes lack of sleep |
 |
| Figure 6: Neglection towards works/ assignments when online |
 |
| Figure 7: Places preferred for online |
We also study on the way the respondents use the Internet in
their life. We asked about the places that they would want to spend the most to
online. Most of them chooses home as the place for online with the peercentage
of 69.5% and the least place for online is at café or coffee shops with the
percentage of 10.2%.
This shows that most of our respondents are comfortable to
go online on the Internet when at their own home.
 |
| Figure 8: Purpose of using the Internet |
When go online, most of the
respondents also tend to seek for entertainment purpose with the percentage of
40% and the least prpose of online is for business matters with the percentage
of 5% only.
Plus, the most used social media by the respondents is the usage of
WhatsApp with the percentage of 47.5%
and the least are WeChat and Twitter with the total percentage of
6.8%. Most of the respondents also says
that they never heard of someone complaining to them when spending to much on
Internet with the percetnage of 55% saying “No” and the least with the
percentage of 15% that says “Maybe”.
 |
| Figure 9: Type of social media often use |
 |
| FIgure 10: Others complaining when spending too much on Internet |
 |
| FIgure 11: Does Internet provides more fun than real life |
To find out if our respondents are addicted to the Internet
or not, we also asking them if the Internet provides more fun than real life or
not. Most of our respondents say “Yes” as the answer with the percentage of
41.7% and the least saying “Maybe” with the perrcentage of 25%. This shows that
most of our respondents are addicted to the Internet although they do not spend
much time whe online. Although this seems unpredictable but, most of our
respondents prefer to use the Internet in their life to spend the time in their
life.
Futhermore, most of our respondents says that they might “Dead” if there
are no Internet in their life. This is shown in Figure 12 that the respondents
described that they will die without Internet with the percentage of 20%.
 |
| FIgure 12: Describe the life without Internet |
In conclusion, our survey on this Internet
Addiction among people shows that most of our respondents are addicted to
Internet. Some respondents may say that they are not spending much time on
Internet but they cannot deny that Internet is being a part of their life as
they symbolize Internet as the main tool in their life.
If you wish to find more if you are an addict or not, you can watch the video below:
References:
Young, K. S. (1999). Internet addiction: symptoms, evaluation and
treatment. Innovations in
clinical practice: A source book, 17,
19-31.
Young, K. S. (2004). Internet addiction: A new clinical phenomenon and
its consequences. American
behavioral scientist, 48(4),
402-415.
it is undeniable that, most of us nowadays prefer to stay late at night because there are internet connectivity.
ReplyDeleteI am torn between either to like internet or to hate internet. Something I thought the quality of life is better off without internet and sometimes I dont. My most concern with the availability of internet is that how it affects our productivity daily. To be honest, I would rather prefer internet is never existed in the first place to the point where I envy old people that never use them and I pity those young children that are expose to it as early as they are born.
ReplyDeleteSebenarnya kita tidak boleh lari daripada kecanggihan teknologi pada masa kini yang penuh cabaran. Namun begitu, kebaikkan dan keburukkan penggunaan internet itu datang dari kita sendiri dan ianya bermula dari hati kita sendiri tujuan apa yang kita mahukan. Tepuk dada tanya selera dan siapa yang makan cili dia yang rasa pedas.
ReplyDeleteBenar.. Benda2 mcm harus dielakkan agar kita sentiasa jauh drpd anasir-anasir negatif internet. Saya kadang2 tidak prefer kpd internet semata2 kerana saya lbh suka bertanya orang dulu sebelum saya memulakan pembacaan dlm i ternet.
ReplyDeleteINTERNET. Suatu perkataan yang memberi satu makna kepada setiap manusia. Tidak dinafikan 90 peratus masyarakat kini menggunakan sumber internet untuk mendapatkan sebarang maklumat yang mudah dan pantas.
ReplyDeleteKemudahan internet ini perlu kita gunakan sebaik mungkin agar tidak tergolong dalam agenda-agenda negatif yang dapat memudaratkan kehidupan diri sendiri dan masyarakat malah negara.
ReplyDelete