INFLUENCE OF WEB SURFING ON UNDERGRADUATES’ STUDYING IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

Undergraduates are now bereft of the ability to read; rather they devote more time to social networking. Studying literatures and documents in an unobtrusive, quiet place of a reading room or house is becoming the most out-dated notion to many university students. However, as studying is essential, an obvious minor alteration may produce severe consequences. The study, therefore, examined works from several fields on the technical, communal, developmental, and neuro-scientific influences of web surfing on the reading culture of evolving undergraduates, particularly in the Nigerian context. A descriptive quantitative method was used to study the influence of the web surfing on the educational well-being of the students of the University of Ibadan. In total, 154 participants from three faculties of the institution took part in the study. Results indicated that only academic-oriented Internet utilization contributes to better academic performance with the significance value of 0.001 while the social and recreational function of the internet would hinder the achievement of a better academic result. Also, there were significant differences between Internet use and gender, the web use and age groups, and the Internet use and institutions in Nigeria. The application of the web for leisure and common purpose may hamper the reading culture of students, especially those in tertiary institutions. Therefore, the government, teachers, parents and concerned parties should cooperate and collaborate to minimize using the web for unproductive social and recreational purposes.