The Impact of the Internet on Social & Psychological Well-Being of School Going Children

This study investigated the children’s Internet use behaviour and how the Internet usage changes children’s daily lives. 50 children in 9th to12th Class participated in survey. Particularly, this study examined how children allocated their time to different media and daily activities and the relationship between children’s Internet use and level of physical activities, social involvement and relationship, and loneliness. This study found no displacement effect of the Internet on children’s daily activities. Rather, it was found that children who spend more time on the Internet were more likely to spend more time with other media, more time on some kind of physical activities, and were more socially involved. The Internet provided a place for communication and social relationships for children. Net-generation children surrounded by media were not necessarily giving up other activities that were also important for their intellectual, physical, social and psychological development.