Orig. title: Extreme Internetnutzung zu Hause und Schülerkompetenzen
Engl. transl.: Extreme internet usage and student performance
Keywords
Internet usage time
usage types
Student competencies
PISA
Learning time
Publication details
| Year: | 2018 |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s35834-018-0213-z |
| Issued: | 2018 |
| Language: | German |
| Volume: | 8 |
| Issue: | 2 |
| Start Page: | 189 |
| End Page: | 209 |
| Editors: | |
| Authors: | Wallner-Paschon C.; Höller I.; Hafner J. |
| Type: | Journal article |
| Journal: | Zeitschrift für Bildungsforschung |
| Publisher: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
| Topics: | Learning; Internet usage, practices and engagement; Literacy and skills |
| Sample: | In Austria, 4,756 students from 191 schools participated in PISA 2012. The participation rate after inclusion of alternative schools was 92%. |
| Implications For Parents About: | Parental practices / parental mediation |
| Implications For Educators About: | Digital citizenship |
| Implications For Policy Makers About: | Stepping up awareness and empowerment |
| Implications For Stakeholders About: | Industry; Healthcare |
Abstract
The Internet is an essential part of our everyday life and a matter of course, especially for children and teenagers. The daily usage time is steadily increasing, which raises questions of possible effects of extreme Internet usage on young people’s cognitive development and on student performance. This article analyses the link between Internet usage time and student competencies in mathematics, science and reading. The focus is on those young people who use the Internet more than six hours a day. In addition, possible differences in performance depending on the type of internet use and on the learning time at home are examined. Based on the Austrian data from PISA 2012, the results show that excessive Internet usage of 15-year-olds is accompanied by significantly lower performance, even when controlling for individual and family background. Internet usage for information search and for school tasks is positively correlated with student achievement, while Internet usage for entertainment is accompanied with poorer student performance. Surprisingly, Internet usage for gaming has hardly any connection with performance. Moreover, the types of Internet use can explain the lower performance of the extreme users only to a moderate extent. The mediator analyses show that shorter learning time is not decisive for the lower performance of extreme Internet users.
Outcome
"Based on the Austrian data from PISA 2012, the results show that excessive Internet usage of 15-year-olds is accompanied by significantly lower performance, even when controlling for individual and family background. Internet usage for information search and for school tasks is positively correlated with student achievement, while Internet usage for entertainment is accompanied with poorer student performance. Surprisingly, Internet usage for gaming has hardly any connection with performance. Moreover, the types of Internet use can explain the lower performance of the extreme users only to a moderate extent. The mediator analyses show that shorter learning time is not decisive for the lower performance of extreme Internet users." (Wallner-Paschon, 2018, 189)