Internet Usage and Its Effect on Senior High School Students in Bantama Sub-Metro in Kumasi Metropolis

Abstract

The Internet has become one stop information access points for senior high school students of the second cycle institutions and their communities. In keeping pace with technological trends, the internet is focusing on the larger social and spatial context; through provision of electronic information resources for both local and remote users to enhance access to local and global information. The study sought to research on internet usage and its effect on senior high school students in Prempeh SHS, Asanteman SHS and Kumasi Girls SHS in the Bantama Sub- Metro in the Kumasi Metropolis to investigate whether the Internet use has any effects on students or not. The theoretical framework for the study was Davis’s (1989) Technological Acceptance Model (TAM). Some of the objectives of the study were as follows; to determine the accessibility and usage of the Internet by the three selected senior high school students; to determine the importance of the Internet among senior high schools. The survey approach was used to collect data and 360 copies of a questionnaire were distributed to the students in the three selected senior high schools. For this study, the convenience sampling technique was used. Out of the target sample of 360 respondents, 342 of them completed and returned the questionnaire leading to 95% response rate. The major findings that emerged from the study were that the public internet café was found to be the student’s highest point of internet access followed by home. Students from the sampled schools indicated that their schools had computer laboratories with Internet connectivity however, the students were given limited hours to access information on the internet. The students learnt to use the computer and the Internet through their own initiatives and also acquired the needed skills through informal ways. Majority of the students from the sampled schools rated the internet access in their school computer laboratories as poor. Students accessed information on the internet for various reasons, but the most prominent was for communication followed by recreation and learning. Recommendations made include implementing policy on internet use, more access point should be provided to students, there should be a provision of formal training, and school administrators and parents should adopt safety measures to monitor the internet content used by students. The study could be replicated in the Junior High Schools level in Kumasi since they also make use of internet in their various computer laboratories and the libraries.