The Impacts of the Internet on Academic Performance, Cognitive Skills and Social Behavior of Adolescents

   Discussion the impacts of the internet on academic performance, cognitive skills and social behavior of                              adolescents.    

                       (Research project, First draft)

                                                              Sagynov Sultan

                                          201444062

                                             Tutor: C. Coulson

Date of submission: 20 February 2014

                                             Word count: 2,046        

University Preparatory Certificate, CPS, NU Astana

Contents

Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………..3

Current situation ……………………………………………………………………………3

Impact of the Internet on academic performance of youngsters……………………………4

How the Web affect cognitive skills of youngsters………………………………….….….6

Impact of the Internet on social behavior of adolescents…………………………….….…8

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..….. 9

Reference list……………………………………………………………………………….10

   Introduction

  The Internet is one of the significant inventions of humanity, and it plays an important role in all fields of life. However, the increasing number of young users and amount of time youngsters are spending on computers has raised an anxiety among society. The massive number of studies claims that usage of the Internet may have negative impacts on youngsters’ friendship and family relationships (Subrahmanyam and Greenfield 2008), and it can cause loneliness and depression (O'Keeffe and Clarke-Pearson, 2011, 4). In addition, there is a concern that the Web may lead to suicidal behavior (Tam, Tang and Fernando 2007, 453). At the same time, computer literacy of youngsters can be formed by playing video games on the Internet. Subsequently, this opportunity may enhance theirs’ ability to read and visualize images in three-dimensional space and deal with multiple images simultaneously (Subrahmanyam et al. 2000). The learning by the Internet can help achieve academic goals and improve academic performance (Jackson et al. 2010). Due to the Internet technologies (IT) adolescents can socialize and interact in social networking sites (SNS). This paper will discuss the impact of the IT on academic performance, cognitive skills and social development of adolescents. Despite facts that the cyberspace has negative impacts such as destructive effect, changing memory skills and cyberbullying it has significant influence as a tool enhancing personal resources of youngsters.