Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
The
Impact of
Internet
Usage on
the Health
and Social
Life of
Canadians
Understanding
Communications
By Lawrence Okechukwu
Emeagwali
2
Introduction
The rising influence of information technology on both the global economic and
10, 2006 review article by Ben Veenhof, published in “The Daily”: Our Lives in Digital
Times; the evident effect of the use of information and communication technologies
spending”. The article further revealed that more and more people are
communicating via mobile phones and electronic mail now than was the case in the
past. It noted not only an increase in communication, but also increases and
This increase in ICT usage globally, is also reflected in Canadian societies as well;
and as more and more Canadians embrace the use of ICT especially internet based
Research Question
It’s in light of the afore mentioned , that I intend to investigate this phenomenon in
the body of this research work, by posing and trying to find answers to the following
research question: “What is the Perceived impact of internet usage on the social
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work of Veenhof, B; Wellman, B.; Quell, C.; and Hogan, B.; (2008) in their work titled:
How Canadian Use of the Internet Affects Social life and Civic Participation and
tried to study whether Canadians are getting more detached, isolated and reclusive
as more and more of them use the internet. Veenhof et al (2008) also studied the
impact of the internet on the integration of Canadians into their communities, as well
obtained in the past, due to the impact of internet usage. Veenhof et al (2008)’s work
sought to find answers to the above questions by examining survey findings from
primary research originally carried out by statistics Canada and the Connected lives
project in order to discover the role of the internet on Canada’s social life and it’s
inherent potential to increase the activeness of the Canadian Citizen. Findings from
this research work will be stated in the findings section of this research work, on
page.
Secondly, on the impact of internet usage on the health of Canadians, I also rely on
the work carried out by Veenhof, B. (2006) titled: The Internet: Is it changing the way
Canadians spend their time? The report which was also published by Statistics
Canada, was based on a 2005 time use data collected in its General Social Survey
(GSS). I relied mostly on the sections of this report which examined internet use, and
the perceived health and happiness of Canadian users as well as their perceptions
of time spent on the internet and its relationship to their individual stress levels.
Findings from the examination of these research works, will also be presented in the
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Research Findings
Having investigated the work by Veenhof et al (2008), I found regarding the impact of
internet usage on the social life of Canadians; that the Canadian populace who are
actively engaged in the use of the internet are not any less social than non-users.
They found that although these Canadians, tend to spend less person-person
physical time with their friends and families, they belong to very large networks and
communities and engage in frequent online interaction and communication with their
family and friends. Table 1 of the report (see appendix 1) shows the average time
Canadians spend on person to person contact with others among internet users and
non-users as at 2005.
Veenhof et al (2008) also noted that quite a good number of active internet users
among the Canadian populace are also socio-politically active and use their large
A more detailed examination of Veenhof et al (2008)’s work also revealed that at the
immigrants into Canada, who see the internet as a vital means of staying in touch
with their family and friends living in their original home countries as well as a tool for
integrating into their new environment. The study reveals that rural Canadians also
engage in the use of the internet to stay in touch with family and friends who have
opportunities.
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Finally, Veenhof et al (2008)’s research work reveals that the internet plays a
transcend local neighborhoods as both young and old Canadians are now actively
involved in the usage of the internet not only to socialize with family and friends, but
also for personal recreation and leisure; for example playing games, watching
movies, and listening to music. It concludes that the internet has become a vital
social instrument in the social life and environment of the Canadian society.
Having examined the impact of internet usage on the health of Canadians, relying on
the work of Veenhof, (2006); I found out that although this work based on a GSS
internet usage affected the health of the individuals who took the survey; it was
discovered that internet usage had no relationship with the health level of the
respondents. This is because health depends on other factors such as the age of
the respondents, their historic or hereditary health conditions and other such factors.
However, in response to the survey questions, Veenhof, (2006) noted that 10.7% of
moderate internet users reported a perception of fair or poor health due to internet
usage, as opposed to 14.5% of non-internet users who reported fair or poor health
However, the overall stress level of the respondents were studied in the same GSS
survey and a shown in Table 8 (see appendix 7) and Veenhof, (2006) found that
there was a relationship between the time Canadians spent on the internet and their
perceived stress levels. From the table, it was generally observed that non- internet
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users generally felt that they had little time for relaxation and had high need for more
free time. However, heavy internet users appeared less stressed and did not
Like their perception of the relationship between internet usage and health, Veenhof,
(2006) also noted that the perception of stress among Canadian internet users also
depended to an extent on the age and other socio-demographic factors. What was
sure was that both moderate and heavy internet users had common characteristics
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Conclusions
From the research findings, I came to the conclusion that the internet is currently a
driving force in the enhancement of the social culture of Canada. True, it may have
changed the way in which Canadians socialize as well as the structure of their
say the least enhanced and enlarged the social frontiers of Canadians. Although
young adults have embraced and participated very well in online social
environments, the internet based socialization and social networks have not been
limited to the young alone as Canadians of every age group and creed have found it
further enabled the speedy socio political as well as humanitarian mobilizations due
communities. Thus to answer the question on how the internet has impacted the
social life of Canadians, I conclude that it is deeply woven into the Canadian social
environment and has enhanced the social life of Canadians on the broader view.
On the part of the research question which addresses the impact of internet usage o
the health of Canadians. I conclude that there is very little direct relationship between
the health of Canadians and the use of the internet as this is dependent on other
usage and stress levels. However it is clear that internet usage affects the amount of
sleep both moderate and heavy internet using Canadians get every day; and since
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amount of sleep has a relationship with stress levels, we can say that there is
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References
Veenhof, B; Wellman, B.; Quell, C.; and Hogan, B.; (2008). How Canadians’ Use of
the Internet Affects Social life and Civic Participation. Innovation Analysis Bulletin.
Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 56F0004M
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman/publications/stats_can/statscan.pdf
(accessed January 27, 2010)
Veenhof, Ben. 2006a. “The Internet: Is it changing the way Canadians spend their
time?”Connectedness Series. No. 13. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 56F0004MIE.
http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=56F0004MIE2006013 (accessed
January 27, 2010).
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Appendix 1
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Appendix 2
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Appendix 3
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Appendix 4
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Appendix 5
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Appendix 6
Non-
Moderate users Heavy users
users
% of respondents
Perceptions reported by a significantly different proportion of Internet users
compared with non-users
Feel rushed every day 35.6 32.6** 29.9**
Most days are quite a bit or extremely stressful 20.7 19.3** 17.1**
Have time on my hands that I don’t know what
to do with: 20.7 23.2** 34.5**
every day or a few times a week
Have time on my hands that I don’t know what
to do with: 30.9 22.7** 17.4**
never
Considers self a workaholic 26.0 24.2** 20.6**
Cut back on sleep when I don’t have enough
47.0 52.8** 54.3**
time
Feel constantly under stress trying to accomplish
35.1 32.8** 30.7**
more than I can handle
Feel that I just don’t have time for fun anymore 32.9 28.9** 25.2**
Perceptions where difference between Internet users and non-users was not
statistically significant
Feel days are just too short to do all the things I
64.3 65.5** 61.2**
want
Regularly have trouble going to sleep or staying
29.9 29.0** 32.5**
asleep
Worry that I don’t spend enough time with family
40.8 39.9** 37.1**
or friends
Would like to spend more time alone 25.3 24.7** 22.9**
** Difference from non-users is statistically significant at the 99% confidence level (p < .01).
* Difference from non-users is statistically significant at the 95% confidence level (p < .05).
Source: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey, Cycle 19: Time Use, 2005.
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