Pattern Of Internet Use Research Articles

Pattern of Internet use among professionals in India: Critical look at a surprising survey result

Background:To study the pattern of Internet use across people of various professions who have access to it; the impact of Internet use on their personal, social, and occupational life; and to evaluate their Internet use on the International Classification of Diseases–Tenth Revision (ICD-10) dependence criteria and Young's Internet Addiction Diagnostic Questionnaire (IADQ).Materials and Methods:Hundred four respondents were assessed on a 31-items self-rated questionnaire covering all the ICD-10 criteria and Young's criteria for Internet addiction.Results:The typical profile of an Internet user was as follows: the mean duration of Internet use was 73.43 months (SD 44.51), two-thirds (65.38%) of them were using Internet on a regular basis for a period of more than a year, the mean duration of daily Internet use was 39.13 months (SD 35.97), the average time spent in Internet use was 2.13 h (SD 1.98) everyday, more than half (56.73%) of the sample was using Internet at least for 2 h/day, and the most common purpose of Internet use was educational for two-thirds (62.5%) of the sample. The five most commonly endorsed items were as follows: the need to use the Internet everyday (53.8%), Internet use helping to overcome bad moods (50%), staying online longer than one originally intends to (43.3%), eating while surfing (24%), and physical activity going down since one has started using the Internet (22.1%). When evaluated on ICD-10 substance dependence criteria and Young's IADQ separately, the prevalence of the ‘cases’ of Internet addiction came out to be 51.9 and 3.8%, respectively.Conclusions:The Internet affects the users’ life in multiple ways. The sharp difference in the prevalence estimates of Internet addiction depending on the type of criteria used shows the fragility of the construct of Internet addiction. A cautious approach should be adopted while revising the nosological system to differentiate users from those who are dependent.

Problematic Internet and mobile phone use and clinical symptoms in college students: The role of emotional intelligence

This study deals with maladaptive use of the Internet and the mobile phone and its relationship to symptoms of psychological distress and mental disorder, as well as to the possible role of Perceived Emotional Intelligence in this relationship. Three hundred and sixty-five undergraduate university freshmen at Ramon Llull University, Barcelona (Spain), majoring in four different studies (Psychology, Education, Journalism and Broadcasting, and Health Studies) replied to scales assessing the negative consequences of maladaptive use of both the Internet (CERI) and the mobile phone (CERM), a self-report scale on Perceived Emotional Intelligence (TMMS-24), and a clinical instrument to check for complaints related to the presence of psychological distress ( Symptom Checklist-90-R; SCL-90-R). Results indicate that psychological distress is related to maladaptive use of both the Internet and the mobile phone; females scored higher than males on the mobile phone questionnaire, showing more negative consequences of its maladaptive use. With respect to major study, students of Journalism and Broadcasting showed a more maladaptive pattern of Internet use than students of other majors. The components of Perceived Emotional Intelligence contributed to the explanation of the variance of the general indicators of psychological distress, but to a lesser degree than maladaptive use of Internet and mobile phone.

Internet use pattern of Undergraduate students at the University of Lagos, Nigeria

This study examined the pattern of Internet use by undergraduate students at the University of Lagos, Main Campus, Akoka, Lagos, Nigeria. It revealed that the level of Internet use is low among undergraduate students from both the Faculty of Education and Faculty of Law. It also revealed that though majority of the students browse the Internet many of them cannot design search strategies. However, the study showed that internet use has very high impact on the academic/career related activities of the students. The study recommends the provision of faculty computer laboratories equipped with internet facilities, installation of solar electric power back-up system, and the integration of Internet and computer literacy into the compulsory general studies programme of the University. University of Dar es Salaam Library Journal Vol. 8 (1&2) 2006: pp. 1-15

Blogging Everyday Life in Chinese Internet Culture

Since the mid-1990s China has undergone an explosive growth in Internet usage and coverage. China became the second largest Internet nation (next to the United States) in 2002, with 59.1 million Internet users. By June 2006, the number hit 123 million (although this still comprises only 9.4 per cent of China's total population of 1.3 billion).] The Internet has become an integral part of the daily lives of urban Chinese. For most Chinese Internet users, the Internet provides aggregated sources of a rich variety of content: a platform for online commerce, a huge virtual billboard for advertisements, games and social networking (including cyberlove, or wang lion). This entertainment-and-consumption pattern of Internet use at the micro, individual level is often put side by side with a control model at the macro, institutional level, which views information and communication technologies (lCT) as a means of control (see, for example, Qiu, 2007). People in the West are frequently told about the suppression of freedom of speech by the Chinese government, constraints on politically sensitive websites, arrests of cyber activists, and global Internet search companies (such as Google, Yahoo and MSN) giving in to the Chinese government by imposing stricter censorship to control the flow of Internet information.

Internet Use Among Chinese College Students: Implications for Sex Education and HIV Prevention

The Internet has gained great popularity among Chinese college students, but studies on Internet use behaviors and their relationship with sexual risk perception and behaviors have been limited. A survey was conducted among 1,845 college students in an eastern province of China, in order to assess the pattern of Internet use among Chinese college students, to examine the relationship of Internet use and HIV knowledge and susceptibility, and to explore the relationship of online risk behaviors with sexual status, sexual intention, and sexual perceptions. Data suggest that many students used the Internet frequently and often spent long hours online. Differences between genders and across grades were observed in the patterns of students' Internet use. Male students reported much higher rates of visiting pornographic websites or engaging in other online risk behaviors. Students' HIV knowledge or susceptibility did not differ by the extent of Internet use, but online risks were positively associated with their sexual status, sexual intention, and sexual perceptions. Students who were sexually active, planned to have sex, or possessed permissive attitudes toward pre-marital sex were more likely to report online risk behaviors such as visiting pornographic sites, cyberbullying, or distributing erotic materials via the Internet. The data underscore the importance to provide students with appropriate guidance on their Internet use, especially for reducing online risks and utilizing Internet as a source for sex education and HIV prevention.