The Influence Of Internet Usage on Attention And Memory

Yuen, Cheng Lin (2022) The Influence Of Internet Usage on Attention And Memory. [Final Year Project Report] (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The internet has been expanding in both access and contents over the past decades, and is become increasingly vital in everyday life that it literally transformed people’s lifestyle and habits, better or worse. People have different opinions toward the consequences of internet usage on active users, particularly the topics related to cognitive psychology. The primary purpose of this study was to identify the nature of internet access and usage, and explore the relationship between the level of usage, gender and age in determining their effects on users’ attention and memory, while evaluate if the results are in line with the Working Memory model, level of processing effects and other stated theories. A number of 522 Malacca residents were volunteered to participate in the survey, where they were being administered with self-reported questionnaire through online media. Exposure variables included time spent on general internet use, information seeking, social networking, communication, gaming, entertainment and looking on current news and trending. The results indicated that male and younger age (youth and young adults) users have greater tendency of becoming heavy or even excessive internet users, although the association between gender and level of internet usage is not statistically significant. Heavy internet users have relatively poorer memory and attention compared to light and moderate users. Moderately strong positive correlation was discovered between attention and memory capacity, but did not imply causation. Male also found to spend more time in gaming, reading news and trending and seeking information while female made intense use of internet in communication, social networking and entertainment. Time spent on general internet use was prospectively associated with reduced attentional span and worse memory for both genders but more prominent on younger users. Further studies should focus on other demographic characteristics, while also consider the exposure variables as risk factors relating to the mechanism of cognitive functioning.

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