PhD research reveals frightening time spent online
Worried your child might not cope during their first year at a higher institution of learning because they are always on the internet?
Dr Dean von Schoultz has developed a framework to assist students in institutions of higher learning to monitor their own online behaviour towards their academic success.
The former Alexander Road High School pupil’s research findings for his PhD in Software Development saw him develop a framework called Personal Informatics for Academic Internet Self-Regulatory Efficacy.
Now a lecturer at Noroff, the School of Technology and Digital Media in Norway, he graduated during the Nelson Mandela University autumn graduation ceremony.
Through research, it was found that South Africans spent an average of 10 hours and 46 minutes daily online compared with the world average of six hours and 48 minutes.
Not only did he wonder about his own online usage, but also about new undergraduate students entering the higher education sector who were suddenly exposed to unlimited free internet access, new flexible schedules and no parental oversight.
He questioned how this could lead to possible internet addiction.
In his thesis, he also looked at what could be done to address the matter.
“We know very little about internet addiction. It has not even been formally recognised.
“We do know that internet addiction can lead to social anxiety, impulse control disorders and depression. Internet addiction is a worldwide problem recognised by numerous scientific domains."
He said he had personally witnessed varying degrees of this addiction among his own and fellow students, including the neglect of others, anxiety and reclusiveness.
During his research, he was supported by Prof Kerry-Lynn Thomson as his supervisor and Prof Johan van Niekerk as co-supervisor.
He then developed a framework to assist universities and other institutions of higher education in serving students with monitoring their own online behaviour towards academic success.
To date, he said only internet gaming disorder had been considered for inclusion in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Von Schoultz’s research largely focused on the benefits of cognitive behavioural therapy, specifically self-observation which can be made available through Personal Informatics at scale.
He is confident the framework can help students monitor, assess, and adapt their usage to avoid high risk addiction at a time when they should be focused on their studies.