Internet Addiction Effects on Educational Success (Essay Sample)

Internet Addiction Effects on Educational Success
Name
Institution
Internet addiction refers to the use of the internet in a compulsive and obsessive approach. (Santrock and Halonen, 2010). The addiction comes from alteration of normal functioning of the addicts. The interference causes stress on the individuals. This happens mostly when they cannot access the internet facilities for a certain period. Wasting a lot of time online is an indicator of addiction in an individual. It starts slowly and with a considerable amount of time, the usage increases. In the end, the individuals fall victims of the addiction and cannot do without accessing the internet. This leads to internet addiction having various negative impacts on the educational success of an individual.
Surfing the internet for long durations leads to inadequate sleep in individuals (Roberts, 2010). Thus, they become sleepy, restless, and fatigued more often. This affects their memory their reasoning ability. Therefore, they lose concentration when studies are ongoing. In addition, whenever they have no access to the internet, they will spend much of their time sleeping. They will only become sober when they have their minds concentrate on the monitor or phones, at least doing something online, whether useful or not. Such students are likely not to think logically when required, for instance, in examinations and when answering questions in class. As a result, their academic performance deteriorates to unimaginable levels.
Socialization of scholars is a very important aspect in institutional settings. However, internet addiction inhibits any form of socialization to the addicts. They never spare time to socialize with other students. The internet gives them the company they need, that is not human. They end up lacking real social life interaction. Therefore, they do not readily embrace cooperative learning. They avoid group discussions since they prefer individual work with the aim of tapping more time for their interests. Because of this they, grow lacking competence in communication and intellectual organization that are vital for academic success. This translates to poor academic performance (Lowinson, 2005).
Students who engage most of their time surfing the internet have virtually no time to read. They watch movies and have online chatting with friends and unknown people, which makes them happy and relaxed. The limited time they have to read, gets consumed by unimportant matters. Thus, the students end up not attempting their assignments. They even forget revising for the examinations. They become academically illiterate, not because they are stupid, but lazy. They find procrastinating schoolwork good, but it leaves them with workloads that they cannot manage to accomplish. Therefore, they are often not in a position to answer e...