Written and Collected by: Abdalla Jamaa
Internet is multifunction tool which can be used in many fields. Therefore, there are staggering amounts of researches about the internet. Researches focus on controversial topics towards internet. Few examples are uses in education, commercial, research, communication, entertainment, etc. Each topic has causes and effects that if focused could outweigh the outcome of the benefits of the internet usage. However, internet remains universally very popular among people and industries. College students are among the most internet users that experience both the real causes and effects of the internet. Therefore, in this paper, I focused too much on the causes and effects of internet to college students academically, socially, and health.
Academically, college students use internet for many purposes. Internet as a marketplace, some students like the convenience to buy and sell books online. This saves time and money for the students. The ease of online classes and home works are also common to many technologically advanced colleges. For communication purposes, many send and receive emails from faculty and staff. Therefore, students do not have to walk to offices or wait for absent officials’ comments and services. In addition, internet is an alternative research place to libraries, is where many students go to research for their papers. There is no need to carry heavy books or wonder around library isles just to find the perfect book for reading and citing. Socially, students use internet to network with people of similar interests like family, friends, classmates, forums, professional groups, employment agencies, etc. Furthermore, entertainment is another factor that attracts students to internet; they watch movies, sports events, festivals, TV shows, music videos, etc. Many other students go online to play games and have fun or just to waste time.
Negatively however, internet is a location of many other possibilities. As long as many people are involved, most go online with their bad things with them. Computer virus writers, scammers, hackers, prostitutes, identity thieves, and many other criminally minded people are online alongside college students who also can be part of the crime or easy victims. Students’ computers are bombarded with viruses and annoying advertisements. Rather than benefiting, some students use the internet for self destruction. Those who spend hour and hours to play games or stay late at night to watch international sports events, probably do not wake up for their early scheduled classes. This encourages bad grades and failure to continue the college. That is not enough for some students; they use immoral websites for porn and prostitutes. This might lead to sexually transmitted diseases and/or unwanted pregnancy. However, the evil does not stop there, many students fall victims of fraud and identity theft by following up bad links on websites and emails. In addition to all that, college kids violate copyright laws and always download protected music and movies, regardless of consequences they might face if caught. Furthermore, students are sometimes invited through internet to parties and do binge drinking and wild night outs with illegal drugs and other stupid stuff.
Internet, apart from being good in a way and bad in another way, it has more damaging sides than good. Internet causes severe health and behavioral problems. However, internet safety rules are yet to be established because of the difficulties faced by health professionals to distinguish the health hazards of internet. Many health professionals agree that sitting idle for long periods is a major cause and/or a contributing factor of diabetes and joints pain. While glancing bright monitors and screens are also believed to cause blindness and other sight related problems. Furthermore, nutritionists argue that eating disorders like overeating and under eating can occur when busy surfing the web because of the inability of humans to focus on two tasks at the same time. In addition to that, internet addiction is another health concern. Many students get heavily addicted on violent games and porn sites that change their behaviors. This might also open doors for further diseases and sophisticated problems like depression and mental disorders.
In conclusion, it’s obvious that internet is a very useful tool for many walks of life. Internet is a marketplace, a communication device, a networking aid, an educational environment, and a complete entertainment platform. However, it has negative impacts on computers and users alike specifically college students. Computers are attacked by viruses, scammers, hackers, and other criminals that crush computers and steal users’ wealth and information. While users themselves sustain health problems like depression, joint and vision pain, and mental and behavioral disorders.
