“ THE BENEFIT AND DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF INTERNET ON STUDENTS”

           

   

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION 3


2. BENEFITS OF INTERNET ON STUDENTS
i. SOCIAL NETWORKING
ii. INFORMATION RESOURCES
iii. COMMUNICATION
iv. LATEST INFORMATION AND NEWS


3. DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF THE INTERNET ON STUDENTS
i. ADDICTION TO THE INTERNET
ii. PLAGIARISM
iii. DISSEMINATION OF FALSE INFORMATION
iv. CYBER TRAPS

4. SUGGESTIONS
i. AWARENESS CAMPAIGN
ii. ROLE AND MONITORING BY PARENTS  
iii. ROLE OF THE SCHOOL
iv. LIMITING THE INTERNET USAGE

5. CONCLUSION
6. REFERENCES


1. INTRODUCTION

The internet is indeed a wonderful and amazing addition in our lives. Seyal, Rahman, Rahim (2002) demonstrated that internet experience and perceived usefulness predicted attitude toward internet technology. Internet is one of the technology computer networks interconnected through backbone networks and also can get an acknowledged globally as a technology dominated by young people as a student. Thus, internet has a wide base allows access to an enormous range of research information either as full publications, deviance issues and communities. It is a service available on the computer, through which everything under the sun is now at the fingertips of anyone who has access to the internet. It is a very useful technology and can be used for studies. Additionally, there is so much that students can do with the internet, not only they communicate with  international students, but they also learned  from others’ knowdledges and experiences, participate in chat rooms, share ideas and learn about the many diverse culture out there. It is a reality that now students get a lot of help from internet. People who believe that impact of internet on students is positive said that internet helps students by providing them the handy material and resources for their students. Internet comes to the point that reflects discovery of data instantly to adapt the changes (Grabe, et al., 2001).


2. BENEFITS OF INTERNET ON STUDENTS

Internet is a technology that is no need to be introduced. It is a very useful technology and also can be used for studies. Today, it help a lot of students to do their homework. There are four benefits of internet on students:

i. SOCIAL NETWORKING

Information is probably the biggest advantage internet is offering. Malaysia has come in amongst the top three in a study conducted by McKinsey & Company on the economic impact of the Internet on the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of nine aspiring countries – Taiwan, Malaysia, Hungary, Argentina, Mexico, Morocco, Turkey, Vietnam and Nigeria. According to the McKinsey report, Malaysia has also surpassed other developed and developing economies such as France, Germany, China, India and even the United States on McKinsey’s internal index (McKinsey, 2012) . While the use of  internet is greatly depends on some associated factors and services available among students in their school or institutions. Thus, students can use internet for the social connectivity and there are lots of social media website which mostly students use for social networking, Facebook, Twitter, etc are the famous social networking sites. Students can Communicate and interact with the foreign students and discuss with them on issue to enhance their skills and knowledge. Furthermore, internet also can share information with other people around the world. The students can connect and interact with others Instantly and easily also can share knowdledge and get the guidance etc.  Sharing information through internet is very easy, cheap and fast method. If there are having problem in studies or too afraid to ask their teacher about their studies, they can also look for the information using the internet. The internet is a large and wide medium. So the students can choose for what they want  and what really suited with their studies. Technological developments open wide range alternative choices to gain benefit for people’s life (Forcier, 1996). This will make them to be more  creative and thus enhance their learning.


ii. INFORMATION RESOURCES

Secondly,  most  important benefit of  using intenet is that students can learn from internet through bloggers. A lot of information of different types is stored on the web server on the internet. It means that billion websites contain different information in the form of text and pictures. The students can easily collect information every topic on the world for their assignment. For this purpose, special websites called search engines are altavista.com, search.com, yahoo.com, ask.com, etc. The scientists , writer as a student and many other people use these search engines to collect latest   for different purpose. Usually, the information on the internet is free of charge. The information on the internet is available 24 hours. Technology and Internet reflect support for new dimensions under the perspective of education especially students’ learning-teaching cycle (Forcier, 1996). They can also interact with different researchers in the world to share Knowledge and get guidance.

The use of computers and network technologies on students in classrooms has become increasingly ackowdledge as well. According to the Office of Technology Assessment, virtually all schools have one or more computers (95%) (Congress, 1988). The researcher students can find the required information on the Internet and also can collects all the information from internet, that is very easily and fast. Students can use search engine such as Google search or Yahoo search, lots of information can be found to help the students in studying or do thier homeworks. Internet is a rich source of bundled information for students. Students can get research on internet to complete their assignments. In addition, students can get research papers on different topics to enhance their knowledge. Now we don't have to rush to libraries to gather information from printed  books.  Results demonstrate that whereas more and more classrooms are now able to tap the resources of the Internet, 81% of Internet use in classrooms is for Web surfing (Market Data Retrieval, from Mc Laughlin, 1997). Research by groups who specifically design Internet activities to promote higher-order  thinking demonstrates that students do not spend much of their time working toward understanding or evaluating the information they retrieve, but instead focus on finding quick answers and making shallow interpretations of information (Wallace, Kupperman, Krajcik, & Soloway, 2000).  Not surprisingly, a large majority of early research and resource money has focused on issues of hardware and access rather than examination of best approaches for teacher support or fostering student learning (Shaw & President’s Committee of Advisors, 1997). Because of this lack of emphasis on scaffolding support or learning, several of these early studies have concluded that teachers are often not successful in achieving their learning goals for students using the Internet (Gomez, Burgess, Marx, & Clay-Chambers, 1997; Hunter, 1995). Furthermore, different types of learning material or teaching aids can be accessed from the internet, which can be used to make classroom activities more interactive.
In classroom we can also collect all the information on internet as well. Computer is fast and efficient  information in the milliseconds or even more than that. Now you are learning online. There are virtual classrooms. You can get learning material on the internet. All education processes are now on computers. Computer is a remarkable device with much more capabilities and beyond our thinking also can bring any where we want.

iii. COMMUNICATION

 Computers and technologies  are generally touted as being effective in increasing student motivation (Kulik, Bangert, & Williams, 1983; Software Publishers Association, 1995). According to the Datuk Sahril was concluded, “It has come as a pleasant surprise for Malaysia to be recognised in this manner. Nonetheless, there is much more that needs to be done both in terms of increasing broadband service coverage and availability as well as improving the quality of service and user experience. We will have to intensify our joint efforts together with the industry to connect all Malaysians in the spirit of 1Malaysia”. The benefits of a computer system are that it is fast and efficient, gathering information almost immediately, with the ability to process and access information that would take too long manually. The internet could be life-line for students in remote areas: it is  mean for combating their isolation extending their knowledge , and gaining proficieney in its use (Franks, 1996). It gives students a communication with other through internet around the world and also can talk by watching to one another, just you are talking with your friends in your room regarding the paper exam, homework, assignment, etc. For this purpose, different services are provided on the internet such as chatting, video conferencing,  E-mail and internet telephony, etc.

Network projects can capitalize on the role of communication and collaboration in meaningful learning (Newman, Griffin & Cole, 1989). Authentic communication refers to communication that is practical, genuine and has a purpose. E-mail has added another dimension to communication, and for students (especially english language) it can often be a more relaxed and more personal way to contact their teacher. This type of communication has been found to influence students’ interest and accountability in positive ways (Lenk, 1992; Software Publishers Association, 1995; Songer, 1996, 1998a). Email is an important communications service available on the Internet. Moreover, the technologies are unique to the Internet require communication to be done in text letters with some symbols and punctuation.


iv. LATEST INFORMATION AND NEWS

The Internet is like the "knowledge" center of the world. We can find information on almost anything in a number of languages quickly and efficiently. We don't need to really go to a library anymore because everything is online. With well-known advantages of high technology, students can catch the consciousness of importance about technology and main issue is how they develop attitudes toward it (Grabe, et al., 2001). Internet provides the facility to display results of students on websites are also available from where you can get latest news about the events happening in the world. Many colleges and Universities provide online results. The students can view results from any part of the world. Moreover, great resource for everyone. One should reads articles, newspapers and lots more in their free time. We can get latest news and read also experienced of the world on the internet is right here at our fingertips, although the internet is not been here, student also can get news later out there through internet online. Most of the newspapers of the world are also available on the internet. They have their website from where can get the latest news when only event happens  around the world. In fact, the Internet has been successfully used by students  to find news latest for their assignment, homework and writing. When people surf the World Wide Web(www), there are numerous things that can be found. Especially news and more can be found and shared on the Internet. And like Youtube where students usually visit to find out the news later in the world.



3. DETRIMENTAL EFFECTS OF THE INTERNET ON STUDENT.

There are a number of psychological implications, with the growing use of internet by students. The Internet has also brought us negative impact that cannot be ignored. Some of which include the following:

i. ADDICTION TO THE INTERNET

Students in schools today is among the internet users in Malaysia. If they do not have internet access at home they will go to a cyber cafe to get internet facilities so most of them are exposed to the internet. Due to spending countless hours on the internet, many students are becoming addicted to the internet, they spend more time on playing computer games, facebook, twitter and etc. They just surfing internet without any particular reasons. Accordingly, the time they spend on studying is automatically reduce which in turns causes the lower academic achivement. The students  now spend a very limited time with their studying. Therefore, there is a weakening of the teacher and also limited interaction with friends. As a result, the students may miss out on their lesson, results in distorted social skills & limited real life social network. . Moreover, some of them go to the extreme, becoming serious addicts, and they even refuse to go to school as they cannot escape from the trap of internet. Most of the students become internet addicted and this addiction is very bad for them. (Sato & Takashi, 2006).
Students are often exposed to pornography and may find themselves prey for  sexual predators after uploading sexy photos of themselves and also can lead to sex crimes such  rogol cases, obscene honor, etc. According to kosmo newspaper dated 5 February 2010 recently proved that students certainly very much influenced by the use of the internet ". Community aware, students are the group most susceptible to this technology. Rafidah (2010), states the website sex and ponografi remain in top spot, on the fourth and fifth of 100 websites frequently visited by students comprising among children and adolescents throughout 2009.
Similarly, most of the students become internet addicted and this addiction is very bad for them. We can see lots of students wasting their time on chatting at various social media networks and they are so much addicted of the  chatting as well some students are interested in gambling of internet. When they have the free time they search and play the new games which are attractive, especially violence games because it easily make them cheerful and enjoyable to play online. According to Donald (1994) again, habits like playing computer games also teach various negative aspects of such prejudicial error as a matter of assuming normal and no cause for alarm.

ii. PLAGIARISM

 Internet is very useful for students but it is also become harmful for the students. For instance,  when students are given an assignment, students mostly just go to the relative website and just copy and paste the materials from that websites or blogs where the seemingly needed information is posted without studying what was written there. So due to this their habit of studying and take serious research of the work has been vanished. A July 6, 2001 article in the Chronicle of Higher Education reported that “several indicators point to widespread plagiarism on campus,” and that “officials at some colleges say that in recent years they have seen a sharp increase in students cutting and pasting material into papers from Web sites without attribution, or purchasing term papers from online term-paper mills” (Young, 2001, A26).


iii. DISSEMINATION OF FALSE INFORMATION

Internet also can cause many disadvantages especially to individuals who are too obsessed with the Internet and it will do more bad effects especially to students who are too preoccupied with the use of internet at present. In addition to the increasingly popular use of blogs now. Anyone can be disguised as bloggers even without displaying real names and faces. Use blogs also often misused among them is through the blog author may convey such as  false information, facts wrong, defamatory materials. Among the new cases reported by Kosmo newspaper on 2 February  involving abuse blog is contempt case against the death of the late Sultan of Johor. Blogger known as Taruna Aduka was remanded for further investigation.

Blog is also a site that is often viewed by students. According to the Head of Market Research and Customer Views TRICAP, Sheena Lim (in Adham Shadan., 2010), there is a growing awareness on the use of blogs among Malaysians. According to data provided by Alexa.com (the observer-based websites in the U.S.) blogger.com highest recorded fifth place among the 100 pages of the most populary  browsed by Internet users in Malaysia.
It is clear that internet has serious dentrimental effects on students. Thus, the students should use internet with great right way to prevent any harmful effect.


iv. CYBER TRAPS
Malaysia saw a surge in cyber crime last year with over 15,000 reports lodged. According to Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili, 15,218 cyber crime incidents were reported via the Cyber 999 Help Centre, an 88% increase compared with 2010 when only 8,095 incidents were reported. There was a 127% increase in the number of such crimes in 2010 where 8,090 cases were reported, compared with 3,564 cases in 2009. Most of the cases reported were connected with character assassination and cheating. The Cyber 999 Help Centre received numerous cases of those duped by “get rich” scams, pornography, etc (Lee,L.T.,2012). There have been several cases of cheating through the Internet where some victims lost savings. Cyber criminals take advantage of  students weaknesses.



                     
                 
4. SUGGESTIONS

Four suggestions of how to overcoming the detrimental effects of using internet among the students.  Some of which include the following:


i. AWARENESS CAMPAIGN

Through material media such as newspapers, radio and television have carried out awareness campaigns to just surf the web are beneficial. This is intended so that there is wastage of time and cost.

 
ii. ROLE AND MONITORING BY PARENTS

 Parents can monitor Internet sites accessed by their children by placing restrictions 'parent guide' on your home computer.


iii. ROLE OF THE SCHOOL

The school must deliver education on the importance of information technology in learning from planting negative thinking. Since then the teacher should monitor the material accessible to their students while guiding them to evaluate the accuracy and appropriateness of the information.


iv. LIMITING THE INTERNET USAGE

 Internet usage can be done by limiting the use or restrict the types of sites that can be visited. Limitations of using this can be done at home, at school, and at the center Cyber Cafe.
         
   


5. CONCLUSION

In conclusion, we must struggle to overcome energy to reduce the detrimental effects of internet usage among students . Continued efforts and ideas to curb detrimental of internet on students by all levels of society and government and the authorities is necessary to curb this asymptomatic not be a thorn in the flesh that would have a negative impact on daily life. That said, the benefit of the internet far outweight the dentrimental effects, and millions of students each day benefit from using the internet for find out the handy material and resources for their studies.
Internet is a medium that is very important in advancing any field. With only be part of the 'members' of this virtual site, you will be able to communicate globally, using remote computer access from anywhere and at regardless of time and borderless and increase quality of daily work. You'll also be able to do anything using only your fingertips.

             

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