The Effects of the Internet on College Students
The Internet has become widely prevalent only in the past 10 to 20 years, but it has impacted college life both academically and socially. At times these academic and social changes overlap in their effects on college life, which has become more expedient since the introduction of the Internet. College students can also be both more detached and more intimately connected through the web.
Research and Online Resources
Since the wider introduction of the world wide web, college students are able to gain access to online dictionaries, encyclopedias and all sorts of resource materials. Many colleges and libraries have put important books and journals onto online databases so that more students are able to read the same material than in the days when they were limited by the number of print copies available.
Social Networking Websites
Although the cell phone can have a similar purpose, social networking websites provide students with a means of instant contact with their friends. These websites also provide a means of advertising upcoming events and inviting friends to these events.
These websites are also sometimes used as a means of finding people with similar interests or as a method of making available personal information such as other contact details or personality profiles. The most famous of these websites are Facebook and MySpace.
Electronic mail is instantaneous as opposed to postal mail, which has sometimes been called snail mail since the introduction of email. Email is an example of the overlap between the academic and social effect of the Internet on the life of college students. E-mail is a means for students who are away from home to keep in contact with their families, and it is a means for students to keep in contact with friends from home and college.
It is also used by teachers for contacting their students with assignments, and it can be used by students if they wish to ask their teachers questions. For these reasons, many colleges give each incoming student a personalized college e-mail address, meaning that college students are expected to be obtainable at almost any time. Finally, college students, similarly to all job applicants, sometimes must use email to apply for internships and jobs.
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