The Negative Effects of Using the Internet on Jordanian Universities' Students

Abstract

The study aimed at identifying the negative social effects resulting from students’ use of the Internet in the Hashemite University and the differences between the students according to certain variables: gender, college, academic year, and number of weekly hours spent in using the Internet. The study sample was randomly chosen and consisted of 1838 students )34% male and 66.0% female( who studied in the colleges of Engineering, Information Technology, and Educational Sciences during the first semester of the academic year 2014/2015. To achieve the objectives of the study, researchers constructed a questionnaire that included three domains )social isolation, anger, and family cohesion). The reliability and validity of its items were verified. The study resulted in many conclusions, the most important of which were: excessive use of the Internet had considerable negative effects on students such as social isolation, poor family relationships and a tendency to be quick to anger. The study also showed that there were statistically significant differences in all areas of study according to the gender variable, especially for females, but also depending on the college variable for IT students, and on the academic year variable for second-year students. The study results indicated that there were statistically significant differences attributed to social effects which resulted from the excessive use of the Internet according to the number of hours spent weekly, for example, in excess of 20 hours. The study ends by proposing a number of relevant recommendations.