Internet: Fertilizer or Virus

After dismissing that alarm in your phone, what do you do? Is it checking your Facebook account? Your e-mail account? Or maybe, you check first your twitter account before leaving the house so that you’ll get update about the traffic flows.  Then in lunch, do you take picture and upload it in Instagram? Or maybe, the meal was ordered online. As for the night, do you spend it to communicate with loved ones through the virtual world?

Think about it. If your day was put in a pie chart, how much space would internet use take up? 90%? 25%? The tremendous increase in internet use has great implications on one’s lifestyle, one’s culture. Just look at the new features of different places. Restaurants and other establishments now offer free access to Wi-Fi. Now, businesses and transactions are not limited to face-to-face interactions and telephone conversations. These can also be done through internet. Even in the academic realm, students and instructors can communicate through the virtual world. Internet has been a source of inspirations and an avenue for faster and more organized submissions. Moreover, through the social networking sites, people can easily share their thoughts feelings and activities. The internet provides a wider audience for those who want to express themselves to a watching world. Clearly, the way people do things in the past have changed because of the power and influence of internet today.

Do you agree?

With the significance of internet use, the researchers, the authors of this blog, decided to conduct a study on how the Filipino youth use the social networking sites to see to what extent the participants are dependent on the internet. By internet dependency, the investigators mean to how much one rely the satisfaction of his/her physical, psychological and leisure needs through internet use. To do this, the researchers constructed a survey questionnaire and administered it to 132 students, Filipino youth, aged 16-25.

The study yielded results which shows that most of the participants are on the dependent part of the side of the scale. This meant that the use of social networking sites, namely Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, Blogging and E-mail sites, truly became the bridge in the fulfilment of different needs. Internet usage had been fully incorporated into lifestyles of Filipino youth.

            To further support these findings, the researchers also inquired for their estimated number of days they think they could go on without internet, without affecting their needs. A very few said that they could go on for a month. And 43 of them only could do it for a day. This level of dependency would have a lot of implications, don’t you think?

            There are two possible effects of internet use.

It can be a virus that disrupts your own system and your relationship with other people (both in the real and virtual world). It is very possible that a person can be imprisoned with the use of internet and escape the real world. The different social networking sites can be used as means to abuse innocent people.

 It can also be a fertilizer that nourishes the members of the society to contribute for its betterment. Since a lot of people use the internet, one can see various inspirations. Internet makes creation and sharing of knowledge easier. The information is disseminated faster and it has a larger audience as well.  Internet could be the source of new innovations and technology.

To ensure that internet use will be a fertilizer, rather than a virus, the researchers advocate for a balance. There shall be a balance in the time allotment for the activity in social networking sites. Internet use shall help in the attainment of goals, not distract the users from fulfilling them. Moreover, there shall be a balance in the self-expression in one’s accounts. The government shall not prohibit the users from speaking their minds and hearts. But the institution still shall protect the other rights of the people. A friendly reminder upon posting will be to post something that shows respect towards self and others.

So, if your life revolves around the internet, make sure it is still healthy for you and the people around you! :D