Ég nota alla lausa tíma sem ég hef : netnotkun íslenskra ungmenna og mörk sem foreldrar setja þeim um netnotkun

Abstract

Netnotkun hefur aukist mikið síðasta áratuginn og er orðin stór hluti af daglegu lífimargra, einnig ungmenna. Tækniþróun hefur leitt til þess að aðgengi að Netinu erekki lengur bundið við heimatölvu og símalínu heldur er hægt að komast á Netiðnæstum hvar sem er og hvenær sem er. Í þessari grein er skýrt frá niðurstöðumrannsóknar á netnotkun ungmenna í 9. og 10. bekk grunnskóla á Íslandi og hvortforeldrar setji ungmennunum einhverjar reglur eða mörk varðandi hana. Byggt er ágögnum sem safnað var í rannsóknarverkefni um netávana (netfíkn) meðal ungmennaí Evrópu (EU NET ADB). Markmið rannsóknarverkefnisins var að metaalgengi og áhrifaþætti netávana meðal evrópskra ungmenna. Blönduðum rannsóknaraðferðumvar beitt við gagnaöflun, spurningalistakönnun og hálfstöðluðumviðtölum við ungmenni sem mældust með netávana. Meginniðurstöður eru þær aðallir þátttakendur í 9. og 10. bekk grunnskóla nota Netið og tvö af hverjum þremurgera það daglega eða nánast daglega. Strákar verja meiri tíma á Netinu en stelpureða að meðaltali um tvær og hálfa klukkustund á dag á móti tveimur klukkustundumhjá stelpum. Um 1% þátttakenda í rannsókninni höfðu einkenni netávana og um7% til viðbótar töldust vera í áhættuhópi vegna netávana. Nærri 60% foreldra settuungmennunum sjaldan eða aldrei mörk hversu lengi þau máttu vera á Netinu. Ungmennisem rætt var við í eigindlegum hluta rannsóknarinnar töldu sig almennt hafastjórn á netnotkun sinni en mörg hver voru þó jafnframt á þeirri skoðun að netnotkunþeirra væri orðin meiri en eðlilegt gæti talist. Tengja mátti leiða, einmanaleikaog flótta frá raunveruleikanum við netnotkun ungmennanna sem rætt var viðí eigindlegum hluta rannsóknarinnar.

During the last decades internet use has increased significantly and constitutesthe norm in daily life for most people, especially for adolescents. Recenttechnical advances have shifted the ability to access the internet from using a desktop computer to being able to access the internet anywhere and anytimeby a wireless connection. Adolescence is a period involving substantialphysical, cognitive and socio-emotional growth. During this period, theadolescent’s self-image strengthens and inner and outer boundaries areexplored, they expand their social networks and spend more time andexperience greater intimacy with friends while interactions with their familiesmay be reduced. Adolescents’ everyday life is to a great extent controlled bywhat can be done online, they communicate and interact socially online, readblogs, browse the internet for knowledge and information, download music andmovies. Some find online communication more comfortable than face-to-faceinteraction, in particular when sharing information pertaining to them. Theinternet also allows adolescents to connect to friends and relatives living faraway. Although most adolescents regard the internet as a necessity in theireveryday life, it may also present harm including exposure to sexually explicitcontent, violence or cyber bullying. Internet use can also become excessiveand addictive. A sign of internet addiction has been described as similar tothose of addictive gambling. Symptoms include feelings of conflicts of whetherspending time online or seeing friends, or attending a sports practice and usersgradually withdraw from social interactions outside of the internet. Other signsinvolve obsessive thoughts about being Online, irritation when online sessionsare being interrupted or not possible and some individuals try to conceal thefull extent of their internet use.This paper explores online habits and parental restrictions on internet useamong 15–16 years old adolescents in Iceland. The paper builds on data fromthe EU-NET Addiction Behaviour project (EUNET-ADB). The aim of theEUNET-ADB was to measure prevalence and risk factors for internet addictivebehaviours among adolescents in Europe. Data in the EUNET-ADB projectwas collected by a mix method approach, using a questionnaire and semistructuredindividual interviews with adolescent scoring 30 points or more onthe Internet Addiction Test (IAT) instrument. In this paper we examine howmuch time adolescents spend online on weekdays and weekends. We alsoassessed adolescent´s view on their parents´ restrictive measures with respectto their children´s internet use. The results indicate that most adolescents inIceland use the internet and 2 out of 3 use the internet during most days. Boysstay online to a greater extent than girls, on average two and a half hour perday compared to 2 hours per day among girls. About 1 of 3 respondents reportedhaving used the internet excessively so that other activities had beenneglected. Many participants said to have tried to reduce time spent online.Parental mediation of internet use was limited. Freedom of visiting any websiteof their choice was reported by 67% of respondents. Similarly, almost 60% ofadolescents reported that parents never or rarely set any restrictions on howlong they were allowed to be online.All of the adolescents that participated in the in-depth interviews were avidinternet users and most of them also engaged in social networking, inparticular by Facebook. Being active on Facebook was vividly described byparticipants as necessary to keep up with what was happening. Although databased the quantitative study indicated that parental mediation of internet usewas limited, most participants in the in-depth interviews described variousstrategies parents had implemented to limit time spent online or access tocertain websites, such as computer-free days, password protected access orso called “net-nannies”. The participants in the in-depth interviews generallyregarded themselves as being in control of their internet use, although manydisclosed that their online time was more than they considered “normal”.Boredom, loneliness or escaping from reality was often related with a heavyinternet use in adolescent’s narrations.