Bobby Falck och Carl Oskar Stenvall

Internet – a unitary positive?

Abstract

The total Internet accessibility affects us. The world we live in offers opportunities to within seconds communicate with people across the globe, do online banking from the subway, and constantly keep up to date with a never-ending stream of information available. The positive aspects are easy to spot, but there is also a downside. Research indicates that we are not as good at concentrating as we used to be, we feel more lonely and students are dragged down with lower academic performance as a result of the constant and overall level of Internet access. The risk to Procrastinate gets bigger with more easily available distractions. To constantly keep updated on more or less relevant web and technology phenomena means that many people are affected by Technostress, a phenomenon that has emerged and developed over the last three decades.

The purpose of this study is to examine how media technology students at a undergraduate level at KTH in Stockholm are influenced by the total Internet accessibility. Through interviews and a form of log book - in which students were asked to enter data on how they studied and procrastinated daily - we have tried to make connections and see behavior patterns in how the constant connectivity affects students. We also want to show the shortcomings and consequences of the increasing use of technology.

Our results show that students feel stressed as a consequence of their use of technology. This is also in some cases closely related to procrastination, and can in some cases be a direct cause of why students procrastinate. Our study shows that students also experienced a problem in that the boundary between leisure and work becomes more vague. We believe that students need a greater awareness of how to use technology appropriately. In such a scenario, they can take advantage of the positive aspects of the overall Internet availability, while minimizing the negative consequences. We also believe in technological solutions such as limited access to wireless networks during lectures, which can be a way to reduce distractions.