Running head: COMMUNITY PROBLEM REPORT 1

Community Problem Report;

Internet Addiction Amongst Marginalized Communities

Denisse Paola Santiesteban-Villegas

University of Texas at El Paso

COMMUNITY PROBLEM REPORT 2

Abstract

The purpose behind this research is to create a report that will attract attention to an issue

known as internet addiction, and to find out if this problem affects the communities that we

engage in as members of the University of Texas at El Paso. It is of extreme importance to bring

awareness to the institution in an attempt to become aware of how internet addiction may affect

the main population of the integrands in the academic setting which is notably composed of

minority students.
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Community Problem Report;

Internet Addiction Amongst Marginalized Communities

Internet use and its consequential addiction affects students from marginalized

communities the most in the classroom; the University of Texas at El Paso has a notable

population of this group of students and must take preventative measures to ensure that this issue

within the community is handled properly.

Preventive Measures for Marginalized Communities

In the rapidly growing time, Internet has become a source of great addiction for the

marginalized communities. The consequences and impact of the Internet usages in the

marginalized communities like students need to study as their influence on them is evident. The

Addiction of Internet among the students is rapidly growing, and there is a need to have a

preventative measure to ensure the information technology is controlled properly especially for

the students.

Significance of the Internet Addiction

The significance of the Internet Addiction issue is highly emphasized through a

letter to the editor by Momciovic and Iskrenovic-Momcilovic. In this letter, the increasing rise of

the Internet Addiction among the student is raised from the perspective of Internet abuse. It is

reflected that internet in the present time is the need of students as communication and

information technologies are rapidly changing the network structures. Students as the one-third

population of the country are increasingly attracted towards the addiction, and the addiction of

internet leads to the negative influence on not only personality but socio and psychical life as

well. Internet addiction in the young minds has a negative impact, but its presence cannot be

neglected. With this type of information the University institution must learn how to find a
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balance with being able to be proactive and supply its students with the proper technology that

ensures success for the education of its students, but must also balance out how much supply of

this technology they provide for their students due to an increasing amount of people with cases

of internet addiction for the well-being of the scholars that are a part of this institution.

Television vs. Internet: Can they be compared?

In the past there was concerning behavior that used to be exhibited by young people in

response to a past phenomenon such as the Television, the excessive consumption of televised

media was very notable amongst minority youth, this impulsive behavior may be taken into

consideration when studying the shift of media usage from television to the dominant media

phenomenon such as the Internet. There has been past evidence of excessive media usage, an

example is the Television. The excessive usage of television was mostly notable amongst

minority students especially Black and Hispanic students. The zeitgeist in which these

phenomena (television, internet) came about alter the effects of any possible addictions which

makes internet addiction more serious. The effects of internet addiction can have the same effects

that other addictions have. Internet addiction has a negative impact in the classroom because of

the effects that it has in a person’s daily life, not directly in the classroom. Because of its

accessibility, internet addiction may have long term effects. The institution may take into

consideration how internet addiction may be compared to other addictions, and based on

previous research, compare and contrast how those addictions were treated in an attempt to

minimize the effects of this new addiction amongst its students.

A New Psychiatric Disorder

Andrel and Paraipan explore the Internet Addiction under the new psychiatric disorder

among which they highlighted the impact of internet gaming disorder. Internet Gaming Disorder
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has become a new form of addiction that not only have a consequence on personality but also

provide a holistic approach. It is evident that internet addiction has become an issue of current

times and its future perspectives are even more challenges, but in the present time, its impact and

influence on students can't be neglected. Internet Addiction with its all power and influence has

the potential ability to change or instead displace the recreational activities and reading habits

with internet surfing. This displacement of recreational events leads to an adverse effect on their

personality and social life. It is reflected that students who utilize the internet and television

increasingly have negative academic performance and wellbeing. The balance of being able to

have an appropriate supply of technology to enhance the learning experience of students at the

University of El Paso may be found in the variations of what students use the internet for. While

the University may not impede any type academic use that is accessed through the internet, other

measures such as restraining the usage of the internet as recreational entertainment may be a

possible solution to minimize the effects of internet addiction without affecting the learning

experience of scholars.

Urban Areas vs. Rural Areas

Among the general population, the Internet addiction for the marginalized

communities is increasing. However, it is also reflected that this addiction is observed in urban

areas students more as compared to the rural areas students. The risks and usage of the Internet

as the informative technology reflects that urban students are prone towards such addiction and

have a negative impact on wellness and healthiness. On the contrary, the rural areas students are

healthier and wellbeing due to their lower usage of internet. Another aspect that is monitored in

the internet addiction is the usage of Facebook and text messages. The influence of Facebook

and Text message in the student lead to anxiety and stress. The relationship between the
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information technologies and personality of students results to evaluate the fact that there is the

constant negative impact on the students due to Internet Addiction. Apart from academic

performance, personality issues and abuse, this new form of addiction presented its

psychological impact in the form of lower self-esteem and life satisfaction.

On the overall perspective, it is noted that Internet addiction among the students has been

the issue of early times and currently it has taken the role of addiction. As the increasing

communication technology, it utilization among the students creates an issue of its usages

especially Facebook and Text messages when there are elaborative negative consequences

already. This problem in the community at the University of Texas at El Paso leads to establish

specific measures that could protect and control the information addiction and technology.
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