San Sebastian College – Recoletos de Cavite 1

Prolonged Use of Gadgets of Selected Senior High School Student

An Undergraduate Thesis
Presented to the Faculty of Psychology Department
College of Arts, Sciences and Nursing
San Sebastian College – Recoletos de Cavite
Cavite, City

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements of the Degree
Bachelor of Science in Psychology

By

AUDREY MAE ESGUERRA

YESSAMIN S. LAGRAZON
LENNIE T. BELANDO
MARY GRACE C. HIGUERRA
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CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

Introduction

Gadget is a small machine or device which does something useful. (Collins

English Dictionary, 2014) As stated Gadget is useful especially to the teenager for

doing assignment, communicating and for entertainment. Teenagers are not aware that

prolonged use of Gadgets has negative effects. According to Bates (2015) some 24% of

13-17 years old teenagers admitted that even at school they still check their devices,

some also confessed to going online every day because of not resisting the lure of

Gadget. In today’s life people try to maximize every task within allotted time. Without

the use of modern gadgets it is not possible to accomplish people’s daily tasks. People

are not capable of accomplishing daily tasks when gadgets such as laptop, tablets,

smartphones, and the like arrived. (Crates,2012)

Students are exposed to a variety of media, although nowadays there are a lot

of newer technologies, TV still dominate their media use (Hofferth, 2010). According

to Bergin and Bergin (2015) 98% of homes have at least one TV, they also have video

games, a computer, and other media devices. Youth spend an average of fifteen hour

per week just for watching TV and for additional they consume an average of seven

and half hour for other media per day such as cellphones, tablets, and computer.
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Technology encourage rapid shift of attention, multitasking without

reflection, and visual learning instead of invisible analysis (Greenfield, 2009)

In 1980’s when internet arrived home computers became a necessity. Early

research suggested that adolescents turns into social isolates with few friends and low

well-being because of heavy use of internet. Adolescents use the internet for

communicating with their friends (Sigelman and Rider, 2015). Teens nowadays spend

too much of their time being online to talk to their friends and disclosing their thoughts

and feelings. (Valkenbarg and Peter, 2007,2009)

A recent study by Dico on Gadgets thesis CHAPTER (2017) states that

excessive use of gadgets has the potential to become an addiction. Individuals may

develop addiction to gadgets due to prolonged exposure. Students are likely target of

this concern.

Conceptual / Theoretical Framework

Prolonged
Internet
Use
Use of Students
Gadgets

Figure 1.1 Flow of the Study

The diagram presents the process of the study where it investigates the

relationship between internet use and prolonged use of gadgets among students.
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Statement of the Problem

The general focus of this study is to determine the relationship between

internet use and prolonged use of gadgets of a Senior High School Students of San

Sebastian College- Recoletos de Cavite.

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1. The level of internet use of students as measured by Internet Addiction Test

(IAT).

2. Is there a significant relationship between internet use and prolonged use of

Gadgets?

Hypothesis

1.) There is a significant relationship between Internet use and prolonged use of

gadgets of Senior High School Students.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

This study focused on the Internet use and prolonged use of gadgets of

Selected Senior High School Student of San Sebastian College- Recoletos de Cavite.

1. The focus of the study are selected Senior High School Students utilizing

convenience sampling. Only Senior High School Students located at the

ground floor (canteen, chapel, and lobby) will be included in the study.

2. The respondents are limited to 30 participants only due to limited time.

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3. The observation period is limited to 1 day between 8:00am to 2:00pm due to

limited time.

Significance of the Research

The purpose of this study is to expand on previous researches and studies.

Awareness about the relationship of Internet use to the Prolonged use of Gadgets of

selected Senior High School Students can benefits to Students, Teachers, Parents,

and Future Researchers.

Students. Will have deeper awareness of the effects of Internet use that might

lead to prolonged use of Gadgets. This will further help students in managing their time

by lessen the use of the internet and allot their remaining time to the other important

things that they need to do.

Teachers. Teachers will be better aware of the implications of Internet use

that might lead to prolonged use of gadgets to students. This will help teachers

develop ways and means to educate students of the negative effects of Internet use

and prolonged use of gadgets.

Parents. Parents will be more knowledgeable on the implications of Internet

use that might lead to prolonged use of gadgets. This will help them enhance

parenting styles and develop techniques to encourage better time-management

among children.
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Future Researchers. The future researchers may use this study in additional

reference for further studies.

Operational Definition of Terms

1.) Gadget. is a small machine or device which does something useful. (Collins

English Dictionary, 2014)

2.) Smart phone. is a mobile phone that includes advanced functionality beyond

making phone calls and sending text messages. (The Tech Terms Computer

Dictionary, 2010)

3.) Laptop. a computer that is small enough to be carried around easily and

is flat when closed and provides services such as surfing, typing documents,

playing music, gaming, watching movies. (Cambridge Dictionary, 2017)

4.) Tablet. is a portable computer that uses a touchscreen as its primary input

device. (The Tech Terms Computer Dictionary, 2011)

5.) Computer. Is a device used for computing; specif., an electronic machine

which, by means of stored instructions and information, performs rapid,

often complex calculations or compiles, correlates, and selects data. (Collins

English Dictionary, 2010)

6.) Internet. the large system of connected computers around the world that allows

people to share information and communicate with each other. (Cambridge

Dictionary, 2017)

7.) Internet access. access to the internet for a computer or other device.
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8.) Prolonged use. Situation that continues for a long time, or for longer than

expected. (Collins English Dictionary, 2010)

9.) Addiction. an unusually great interest in something or a need to do or have

something. (Merriam- Webster Dictionary, 2017)

10.) Gadget Addiction. is an obsession with your cellphone, tablet, or any

other electronic device, and their abusive usage. (Academichelp, 2015)
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CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Prolonged use of Gadgets

Gadget is a small device which is very useful in everyday life. Adolescents

used it for doing their assignments, communicating and also for their entertainment.

With the use of gadgets such as laptops, tablets, and smartphones, the life of a

person would be easier, in just one click they can browse the video that they want to

watch, search the person that they want to see, send messages to the person they

want ti talk with or even call them, and also for playing games and playing musics

that they want. Adolescent’s experience are being affected by the fact that they

spend more time watching videos, text messaging and even surfing or downloading

applications or musics. But the excessive use of gadgets has the potential to become

an addiction. (Dico,2017)

According to the study of Lewin (2012) those ages 15 to 18 spend more than

seven and a half of hours a day with their devices such as laptops, tablets,

smartphones and the like. Adolescents nowadays are multi-tasking in terms of

surfing the internet while listening to music. They feel like their days would be

boring without the use of it. Youth listen to music or watch videos in their
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smartphones and even playing video games more than the time limit. The said

devices let a person to do things such as using it as an alarm, texting while listening

to music, talking while watching video and even at night they are using their gadgets

to watch videos on YouTube until they fall asleep. Adolescents do their homeworks

and even at their classroom activities using internet access in their phones and

tablets.

Technology Development

According to Biagi (2012) in 1930’s every house had to have electricity

throughout to plugged in their radio and the members of the family gathered to their

living room so that they could listen to the programs. It developed in 1950’s where

television is invented and it’s antenna is at the roof of the house and they have to

plugged it in the outlet. In 1980’s they still needed an electrical outlet to plug their

computer and they have to arrange the cables of their phone, computer and

television. But today’s technology makes mass media wireless that’s so called Wi-Fi

or Wireless Fidelity. Nowadays, you can now access mass media in any location

without wire, you can sit everywhere to watch movies in your laptop, listen to radio

by satellite and download music, book, newspaper and video games to the device

that you can put inside your pocket that what so called smartphone. It can now give

you complete graphics and sound, offering massive choices of information,

entertainment and services whenever and wherever you want.

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Internet Use in the Philippines

More than half of the world or 3.75 billion of people are using Internet

nowadays. The use of it continuing to grow 8% yearly more than half of them are

using internet through their mobile phones. In the Philippines 58% of the total

population have access to the internet and it is higher than the other countries such

as china 53% and Vietnam 53%. At the top of the list is United States with an

average of 99%. In the past 12 months Philippines has grown 27% numbers of

internet users. Filipinos use the internet 8 hours and 59 minutes per day on average

and they are the highest in the world. Some says that it is because of the slow

internet, it is below the global average of 6.3Mbps. The continues growth of the

internet users in the Philippines presents that Filipinos are more active in using or

surfing on the internet especially in facebook. Philippines is at the above global

average of active users in facebook. (Rappler,2017)

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CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The study will apply a quantitative research design to fulfill the goal of this

study, descriptive method will be used to determine the level of Internet Addiction of

selected Senior High School Students as measured by Internet Addiction Test (IAT) as

well as internet use of students.

Subjects and Study Site

The respondents are selected Senior High School Students in San Sebastian

College- Recoletos de Cavite utilizing convenience sampling technique. The

respondents that are being selected was the Senior High School Students that are

located only at the ground floor of San Sebastian College- Recoletos de Cavite.

Research Instrument

Selected Senior High School Students will answer a survey about Internet addiction

and it is called Internet Addiction Test.

Internet Addiction Test- is reliable and valid measure of addictive use of

internet developed by Dr. Kimberly Young. The IAT is a 20 item, 6 point Likert scale

with scores ranging from 0 to 5 for each item, which measures the severity of self-

reported compulsive use of the internet. Total internet addiction scores were calculated,

with possible scores for the sum of 20 items ranging from 0 to 100 (Annexure).
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Validity and Reliability

Total internet addiction scores were calculated, with possible scores for the sum of

20 items ranging from 0 to 100 (Annexure).The scale showed very good internal

consistency, with an alpha coefficient of 0.93 in the similar studies. The

psychometric properties of the IAT show that it was reliable and valid measure that

has been used in further research on internet addiction. The test measures the extent

of involvement with the computer and classifies the addictive behavior in terms of

severity. The IAT can be utilized among outpatient and inpatient settings and

adapted accordingly to fit the needs of the clinical setting.

Scoring

After the respondents answered all the questions, add all the numbers that they

selected for each response to obtain a final score.

Survey results will score:

Scores 20-49 points: you are an average on-line user. You may surf Web abit too

long at times, but you have control over your usage.

Scores 50-79 points: You are experiencing occasional or frequent problems because

of the Internet. You should consider their full impact on your life

Scores 80-100 points: Your Internet usage is causing significant problems in your

life. You should elevate the impact of the Internet on your life and address the

problems directly caused by you Internet usage.

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Data Gathering Procedure

Using Convenience Sampling selected Senior High School Students were

given Internet Addiction Test (IAT) during their vacant time in 1 day, it may only take

3 minutes of their vacant time.

1. Scheduled a one day (8:00 AM – 2:00 PM) of conducting a survey.

2. Allot a time in designated places at the ground floor of San Sebastian

College Recoletos de Cavite to find respondents.

3. Distribution and retrieval of survey to 30 selected Senior High School

Students.

4. Adding of respondent’s scores.

5. Tabulation of final scores.

Statistical Treatment of Data

Pearson correlation coefficient will be used to describe the relationship

in a sample.

Where: