THE EFFECT OF INTERNET ON THE ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to find out the effect of internet on

academic performance of secondary school students. A case study
of some selected schools in Abeokuta South Local Government Area
of Ogun State. Five (5) Private Schools were randomly selected, one
hundred (100) pieces of questionnaire was administered to the five
(5) selected Private Schools, twenty head teachers were random
chosen for the study. The total numbers of respondents were one
hundred (100). Based on the findings, the study shows that internet
is a tool that can develop children mentality and it has really played
an important role in the society, it has transformed the society
positively. Besides, the finds shows that internet is also a tool that
impede the academic performance of students based on the misuses
of technology by both the teachers and the pupils. Based on the
findings, the research recommended that: parents, teachers and
other adults working with children should limit the extent of time
children spend using computers and supervise the content children
are exposed to including games, software and the web. Moreover,
state and local education agencies should refine and adopt age
appropriate guidelines for children’s computer fluency such
guidelines should be disseminated to all elementary and secondary
teachers and incorporated into pre-service and in service technology
training sessions. Also Government should organize free ICT enters
in the society and full supervision in order to make the children
understand or have the earlier knowledge and to know the positive
and negative aspect of internet in order to compliment the finding
from this study.
 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Increasing numbers of people worldwide are using the Internet

(1,574,313,184 as of December 31, 2008). It has been recently

reported that adolescents today spend a significant amount of time

on the Internet for multiple purposes (Ito, Horst, Bittanti, Boyd,

Herr-Stephenson, Lange, et al., 2008). Studies have indicated that

the use of the Internet can be helpful to adolescents to complete

schoolwork more effectively and efficiently (Borzekowski&

Robinson, 2005; Jackson, et al., 2006). However, other

investigators have suggested direct negative effects of Internet use

on academic outcomes (Choi, 2007; Sirgy, Lee, & Bae, 2006).

Excessive Internet use has been associated with problems with

maintaining daily routines, school performance, and family

relationships (Rickert, 2001).

The Internet is a global linking of computers that allows

information transfer. The Internet was established in the early

1960s by the U.S. Department of Defense (Schneider, Evans,

&Pinard, 2006), primarily for military purposes. Since then, the

continual improvement of the Internet technology has provided an

extraordinary level of public accessibility to a wide range of forms

of communication, e.g. intra-organizational and inter-

organizational email; data storage, management and transfer;

social websites like Facebook; text messaging such as Twitter, and

so forth. Due to the development and spread of cheaper and more

user-friendly computer technology and software (e.g., portable

computers, Microsoft Word etc.), the use of the Internet has

increased dramatically. In 2010, the world’s Internet use was

28.7% of the population. While this may not seem like a very large

portion of the world’s population, the growth in the use of the

Internet has been dramatic. For example, between 2000 and 2010,

the rate of growth of Internet use was 444.8% (Internet World

Stats, 2010). There are many benefits associated with Internet use,

such as access to needed information, worldwide access to news

and events, and interpersonal communication through email.

However, along with the phenomenal growth of the Internet and its

use, 2 there has been a growing concern worldwide regarding the

risks associated with Internet over-use (Buchholz, 2009; Daily

News, 2008, 2009; Fackler, 2008; Janta, 2008; Khaosod, 2007;

The Associated Press, 2009). It is now believed that there could be

widespread „addiction‟ to it, in particular amongst college and

university students (Chou & Hsiao, 2000; Fortson, Scotti, Chen,

Malone, & Del Ben, 2007; Kim, et al., 2010; Kubey, Lavin, &

Barrows, 2001; Morahan-Martin & Schumacher, 2000; Scherer,

1997; H. Yan, Liu, Ni, & Chen, 2009; M. Yang et al., 2009).Internet

plays a fundamental role in organizations and society. The basic

fact justifies the information revolution that has been taking place

across the globe in recent times. The term Internet according to

Cawkell in Ogedebe (2004, p.152) is a large computer network

formed out of some thousands of interconnected networks, and it

supports a whole range of services such as electronic, file transfer

protocol, database access and many others. It is therefore not

surprising the success story behind the advent of Internet.

For obvious reasons, it should be noted that the impact of Internet

access on on-campus instruction is still very low for various

reasons: The technology is new, very costly, and perhaps too

threatening to existing academic structures and traditions. This

view was supported by BrownandDuguid (1996). The influence of

Internet on Academic Performance of students differs depending

on population. Sanni et al (2009) in a recent study observed that

there is a gender difference in internet use and thus adequate

attention should be paid to ensuring equal access between male

and female students. The study also establishes that the present

level of capabilities for internet-assisted research is encouraging

and that improving internet facilities in our universities will

enhance academic research in Nigerian tertiary institutions if

strategically embarked upon.A review of literature reveals that

teachers and students are the most frequent users of the Internet,

using it mainly for educational purposes rather than for

entertainment. Several studies Oagboro, 2003; Panda and Sahu,

2003; Hanauer2004) have established a high degree of access and

use of the Internet among college students. Hanauer’s (2004)

report showed that 83% of Internet users had access at their

homes and 51% at their colleges or libraries. Eighty-one percent of

the students access the Internet mostly for college work and 80%

for e-mail/chat. Mishra, Yadav and Bisht (2005) conducted a

research study on the Internet usage patterns of undergraduate

students at the G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology,

Pantnagar.Their findings indicated that a majority of the students

(85.7%) used the Internet,and 61.5% of the males and 51.6% of

the females used it for preparing assignments. A majority of the

respondents,83.1% male and 61.3% female, indicated the slow

functioning of Internet connections as a major challenge.

Robinson(2005) examined Internet use among African-American

college students and concluded that the use of the Internet for

most of the students occurred at school or in the workplace. In

2002, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting conducted a

research on student’s Internet use in the United States. Findings

revealed that children experienced the equivalent of an adolescent

growth in their use of the Internet between 2000 and 2002. 65%

of American children ages 2-17 were observed to use the Internet

from home, school, or some other location – a 59 percent growth

rate since 2000, when 41 percent of children went online from any

location (CTF, 2002).

However, despite the usefulness of the Internet to students, several

studies have examined the negative effects it could have on teens.

For instance, immoral contents can be viewed in the closet, on a

laptop, on a palmtop, etc. without the reservation that any other

person will know about the content being consumed. According to

Longe, et01. (2007),the Internet has also served as the platform for

pedophiles who take undue advantage of the innocence of children

and teenagers to engage them in sex chat rooms and eventually

invite them for sexual escapades. Hertlein&Piercy (2006) are of the

opinion that people are using the Internet more frequently to form

friendships and romances and to initiate inordinate affairs. They

provided a critical review of the literature on Internet infidelity.

Cheryl (2007) revealed that the average age of a child when first

exposed to Internet pornography is at 11 years old, with the largest

consumers of pornography in America being the 12-to-17-year old

group. Almost 90 percent of eight to 16-year-olds have viewed

pornography online, most while doing homework. This study aims

at examining the use and miss-use of the Internet by secondary

school students in Nigeria.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Despite the usefulness of the Internet to students, several studies

have examined the negative effects it could have on teens. For

instance, immoral contents can be viewed in the closet, on a

laptop, on a palmtop, etc. without the reservation that any other

person will know about the content being consumed. According to

Longe, et01. (2007), the Internet has also served as the platform

for pedophiles who take undue advantage of the innocence of

children and teenagers to engage them in sex chat rooms and

eventually invite them for sexual escapades. Hertlein& Piercy

(2006) are of the opinion that people are using the Internet more

frequently to form friendships and romances and to initiate

inordinate affairs.

Things are changing globally, and there are different and modern

ways of doing things, if the essence of the educational policy is

aimed at producing man-power which can cope with the ever-

changing modern world, and be part of the global village “the chalk

and talk method”; hardly bringing participatory interaction

method must give way to the use of innovation and technology

driven which the ICT proffers.Things are changing globally, and

there are different and modern ways of doing things, if the essence

of the educational policy is aimed at producing man-power which

can cope with the ever-changing modern world, and be part of the

global village “the chalk and talk method”; hardly bringing

participatory interaction method must give way to the use of

innovation and technology driven which the ICT proffers.

The overwhelming and glaring features of the present educational

systems and structures are the abnormal and unending

deterioration if the quality of education at all level over the years.

The West African Examination and National Examination Council

result have constantly elicited this groin reality which seriously

necessitates urgent attention. Thus it is the aim of this study to

provide a template on which the revival of the educational system

can be built, also to find out the impact and effects of internet on

academic performance of secondary schools students through the

use of ICT and as well as investigating the problems associated

with the use of internet in teaching and learning process.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objectives of this study is to investigate the effect of

internet on the academic performance of secondary school

students. The specific objectives are:

1. To discover the exposure of students to internet

2. To find out the importance of internet on the academic

performance of the students

3. To discover the reason for abuse of internet among the youth

and adolescents

4. To find out how exposed the teachers are to internet facilities.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions will guide the researcher to

achieve the specified objectives:

1. How exposed are the students to internet facilities

2. Is there any significance relationship between using of

internet and the academic performance of students?

3. What are the reasons for the abuse of internet among the

youth?

4. How exposed are the teachers to internet facilities

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This research work will expose the students, lecturers/teachers,

parents, government at various levels and the general public to the

impacts of internet on teaching as well as the national development

on the suggestion that would be made if well utilized will reduce

teacher’s burden in teaching jobs, also facilitating teaching and

learning activities. It will also help the students to study through

the use of internet without teacher’s been the intermediary, also

the use of Computer Aided Instruction (CAI) among others will be

exposed too, and it will enable Nigerians education to compete with

well developed countries education system.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study cover the entire student of the federal republic of Nigeria

but due to financial and time constraint samples are taken from

four schools in Abeokuta south local government area of Ogun

State.

1.7 DELIMITATION OF STUDY

This major constraint the researcher encountered in this study is

limited time and insufficient fund to visit some important places.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Information and Communication Technology (ICT): implement

of its equipment’s in teaching and learning process as a media.

Internet: a global computer network providing a variety of

information and communication facilities, consisting of

interconnected networks using standardized communication

protocols.

Academic: anything that relate to education

Performance: the result of a students is in his/her academic aim

or goal
Students: somebody who is learning or studying in a formal

settings to achieve