Internet Addiction, Loneliness and Academic Performance Among the Secondary School Student

Despite the positive effects of internet, there is growing literature on the negative effects of its excessive use. The use of the Internet on school campuses and in society has increased dramatically in recent years. Whereas the academic use of the Internet is primarily intended for learning and research, the Internet has also become an important part of student life. However, from time to time, cases of over involvement with the Internet have been observed on different campuses. The present study was designed to study the relationship of internet addition with the loneliness and the Academic Performance of the secondary school students. The sample comprised 200 students (100 each from Government & Private) selected randomly from the 4 Government and 4 private schools of Jammu city using the scientific method of selection. Internet Addiction Inventory and Loneliness scale was used to observe the internet addiction and loneliness of the participants. While the scores obtained by the participants in their 10th class board examination of their respective Board were taken as the academic performance of the participants and the result was analyzed using t-test and correlation. The correlation analysis showed the significant and positive correlation of the internet addiction with the loneliness of the participants of both the Govt. and Pvt. Schools, whereas, with the academic performance the correlation is significant, but negative in direction. The result of the t-test analysis showed the significant difference between the Govt. and Pvt. Schools on their internet addiction, loneliness and academic performance and further confirms the results in this regard.