Causes of Adolescent Internet Addiction and Educational Counseling Strategies

Abstract

With the rapid development and widespread popularity of the Internet, people are using it more frequently in work, study, and daily life. The total number of Internet users is increasing rapidly, highlighting a trend towards younger age groups. The survey shows that the youth group is quietly becoming one of the main forces of Internet users. The existence of the Internet itself is a double-edged sword. While bringing great convenience to people's lives, the Internet also leads some teenagers who lack self-control to become addicted, causing significant issues in their studies, personal lives, and relationships, and seriously impacting their physical and mental health. The issue of adolescent Internet addiction has emerged as a significant social problem that requires urgent attention. It is crucial to educate teenagers on the proper use of the Internet and to prevent Internet addiction. Therefore, this paper analyzes the causes of adolescent Internet addiction and proposes corresponding education and guidance strategies.

Headnote

Abstract

With the rapid development and widespread popularity of the Internet, people are using it more frequently in work, study, and daily life. The total number of Internet users is increasing rapidly, highlighting a trend towards younger age groups. The survey shows that the youth group is quietly becoming one of the main forces of Internet users. The existence of the Internet itself is a double-edged sword. While bringing great convenience to people's lives, the Internet also leads some teenagers who lack self-control to become addicted, causing significant issues in their studies, personal lives, and relationships, and seriously impacting their physical and mental health. The issue of adolescent Internet addiction has emerged as a significant social problem that requires urgent attention. It is crucial to educate teenagers on the proper use of the Internet and to prevent Internet addiction. Therefore, this paper analyzes the causes of adolescent Internet addiction and proposes corresponding education and guidance strategies.

Keywords

Teenagers, Internet addiction, Cause, Educational strategy

"Internet addiction" refers to the mental illness caused by excessive use of the Internet. Internet addiction has become a hot issue in the whole society. Young people are the main force of our country's future socialist modernization construction. Therefore, we must attach great importance to the problem of adolescent Internet addiction.

1. Current situation of adolescent Internet addiction

According to the survey of the Internet use report of Chinese minors, the Internet penetration rate of minors has reached 99.2%, which is significantly higher than the overall Internet penetration rate of China (64.5%), and the age of minors' first access to the Internet has decreased, and the proportion of people under the age of 10 who began to contact the Internet has reached 78%, and the main age of first access to the Internet is concentrated in the age of 6 to 10(Ji Weimin& Shen Jie,2020). In addition, a survey has found that more than 60% of adolescents in China have a tendency to Internet addiction, of which 28% have severe Internet addiction. Compared with urban children, children in rural areas are particularly affected by Internet addiction. Male students tend to be addicted to games, while female students tend to be addicted to shopping and short videos (Gutian, 2021).

The Internet permeates all aspects of life, and people's clothing, food, housing, and transportation have become completely intertwined with the Internet. Every year, a variety of new electronic products emerge to maximize developers' interests. Young people are also an important demographic in terms of consumption. Businesses cater to children in lower grades by offering tailor-made phone watches and tablets, while for senior students, they have launched mobile phones, computers, and other devices. The primary reason parents buy these devices for teenagers is to facilitate contact and service learning. But in fact, the vast majority of electronic products eventually become a tool for minors to entertain and even hinder learning progress. Many students bring electronic products to the campus and indulge in them during class, class, and even sleep. At school, the topics that classmates talk about are no longer textbook knowledge or classmates' interests, but Internet hot memes and buzzwords. Back home after school, children no longer share what they have learned in school with their parents, but close the door and indulge in their own virtual network. Many students are day and night upside down browsing the web, playing games, and addicted to the pleasure of swiping short videos that can not extricate themselves, and eventually leads to deteriorating physical condition, academic performance plummeted, and tension with parents and teachers.

2. The causes of adolescent Internet addiction

The youth Internet addiction group is huge and has far-reaching influence, which can not be underestimated whether it is for the individual development of young people or for the progress of the whole country and society. Therefore, it is necessary to deeply analyze the causes of adolescent Internet addiction and take corresponding measures and strategies to improve this situation. In addition to individual internal reasons, adolescent Internet addiction is also closely related to external factors such as family, school, and society (Yang, 2020).

2.1 Individual reasons

Teenagers are in an important stage of life development, not only have to face heavy learning tasks but also experience various psychological and cognitive conflicts brought about by the rapid development of body and mind. The speed of physical development of adolescents is faster than the speed of psychological development, which makes them produce the illusion of "adult sense" to a certain extent. They are eager to break free from their parents' control and yearn for independence and freedom (Lin Xiaohao, 2021). In real life, teenagers are restricted by teachers and parents everywhere, but on the Internet, they can speak freely and freely. Young people are full of energy and curious about all kinds of new things, while the Internet is a kaleidoscope, news, entertainment gossip, and other massive information spread across the sky, deeply attracting the eyes of young people. When some new ideas are not understood by their parents and other elders, they are no longer willing to tell their own thoughts to the people around them, and the openness of the Internet gives them enough comfort and understanding. In addition, teenagers are burdened with the expectations of parents and teachers, as well as academic pressure and interpersonal problems, which can make them physically and mentally tired, but swimming on the Internet can allow them to temporarily forget these worries. Young people have a single interest, or no other interests, lack of peers, and are unwilling to communicate with others. Academic performance is not ideal, not teachers' attention, this part of the children are more inclined to vent their unhappiness through the Internet.

2.2 Family reasons

With the popularity of electronic products, almost everyone in the family has a mobile phone. Some parents have high self-discipline and will improve themselves through exercise or reading books at weekends and after work. Children in this family will also be subtly affected and know how to restrain themselves. The other part of the way of relaxation of parents is to play cards or play mobile phones, correspondingly, children in this family atmosphere are more likely to indulge themselves addicted to the Internet (Yang Bufang, Zhu Hong, & Li Yue, 2021). If the child can be understood by the parents in the family, and get enough understanding and support, it can also reduce the probability of Internet addiction. On the contrary, if parents always blame and complain to their children, then the children are more likely to find comfort and encouragement in the virtual network, and the probability of Internet addiction will increase. Parents' indulgence and indulgence is also an important reason for teenagers' Internet addiction. In real life, some parents think that as long as the child's academic performance is good, what requirements can meet the child, whether it is to buy a mobile phone or play games (Wang Ruohan et al., 2019). But adolescent children already have relatively poor self-discipline, coupled with parental indulgence, and their dependence on the Internet is even more uncontrollable. Many parents initially do not realize how much hidden danger will be brought by agreeing to some unreasonable requirements of their children, until their children are completely addicted to the Internet and can not go to school normally. Nowadays, most of the only children, there are not many brothers and sisters, parents are busy with work, resulting in the lack of emotional communication between teenagers and parents. Parents expect too much from their children and neglect to manage them. Nowadays, many families are equipped with computers to meet their children's learning needs. However, due to the lack of proper guidance from parents, children do not have time to take care of what they do online and often do not ask. This makes some children think that their parents are allowing them to go online, and over time, the child will become uncontrollably lost on the Internet (Li Y W, 2020).

2.3 School reasons

As students, teenagers spend most of their time in school, so the influence of school on students should not be underestimated. Although our country has been vigorously advocating the development of quality education, in reality, most of the school education mode is still based on exam-oriented education. In an educational environment where academic performance comes first, it is natural for teachers in schools to measure whether students are excellent or not by test scores. In any class, there are some students whose grades are not favored by the teacher, and this part of the students' sense of value can not be obtained from learning

Moving to the virtual web is their first choice. Many students get an unprecedented sense of achievement in learning through online games, and this "sense of achievement" in turn becomes the driving force for them to further become obsessed with the Internet. In addition, in order to improve the enrollment rate, some schools and grades compressed students' entertainment time, and even changed the original few music, art, physical education, and other courses directly to mathematics, physics chemistry, and other courses that need to participate in the entrance examination. Students study in such a high-pressure environment for a long time, physical fatigue and psychological pressure make them very eager to have a chance to breathe. So many children on the weekend or after school, race against the clock to play with electronic products, and if there is a holiday are addicted to sleep and eat. Schools neglect to prevent and guide network hazards. Although schools attach great importance to computer and network knowledge, many schools do not take special precautions against students' network security. The identification ability and control ability of teenagers are relatively poor, they are in the growth and development period, once browsing illegal, pornographic, violent websites, it is easy to be corroded, eventually leading to most students addicted to the Internet, unable to extricate themselves.

2.4 Social reasons

Social progress and technological development have also changed the way people entertain themselves and the pace of life. According to the latest statistics this year, China's Internet users have reached 1.079 billion, and electronic products are almost a human hand. In daily life, whether it is taking the subway or waiting for the bus, a little attention will find that more than 85% of people are phubbing. Some websites that are not suitable for minors' entertainment have lowered the threshold of control in order to attract more users so that teenagers can take advantage of it. The relative lack of public facilities for youth entertainment in society has led to many minors going out and not knowing what to do, simply staying at home and surfing the Internet. The network control means is not sound. Because the network itself has the characteristics of virtuality, concealment, instantaneity, remote, and so on, many problems are caused by the network, the existing legal system can not be completely restrained. The management of the network is neglected, and the management means are backward. Although relevant departments have adopted modern monitoring methods for network management in contemporary society, there are still some technical problems.

3. Educational counseling strategies

Internet addiction is not only harmful to the physical health of adolescents, but also in order to better prevent and improve the current situation of adolescent Internet addiction, the author will provide some educational counseling strategies from the perspective of corresponding causes of Internet addiction.

3.1 Teenagers

The solution must also be the bell, in addition to the outside help of youth Internet addiction, more need to rely on the parties themselves. First of all, minors should realize the huge obstacles brought by Internet addiction to their study and life. In fact, teenagers should read more and understand some ways to cope with stress, such as mountain climbing, playing ball, listening to music, and so on. At the same time, when encountering an unsatisfactory life, the first thought should be how to find a solution, rather than blindly escape and withdraw. Finally, young people should set lofty goals and ideals, not for the immediate comfort and ease to stop their own pace of progress, usually read more celebrity biographies, to understand how the great people of different periods have strict requirements of their own in a difficult environments.

3.2 Family

Family is the soil of a person's growth. Parents, as their children's first teachers, should serve as role models and set strict rules in daily life. For instance, they should encourage their children to reduce their use of electronic devices. Therefore, parents should also monitor their own screen time. Create a positive family atmosphere where any big or small issues are calmly communicated, rather than reacting with temper and quarreling impulsively. In the family, establishing an equal parent-child relationship involves allowing any family member to express their ideas, while parents fully respect the child's choices. In addition to closely monitoring their children's academic performance, parents should also strive to understand their children's emotional and psychological needs. When children have conflicts with people at school, the concepts of right and wrong should be set aside temporarily. Instead, children should be provided with sufficient understanding and support to reassure them that their parents will always be there to support them. Communicate more with children. When children share their school experiences, parents should set aside distractions, listen patiently, empathize with them, and provide guidance and education afterwards. Parents should strive to understand their children better, empathize with them, enter their world, respect their privacy, encourage open communication, and maintain a close and intimate relationship. By fully respecting their hobbies, engaging in conversations on an equal footing, listening more, criticizing less, offering more encouragement, understanding and appreciating their ideas as much as possible, and empathizing with their perspectives, we can better understand the psychology of young Internet users. This understanding can help them overcome Internet addiction and focus their thoughts on their studies and personal lives.

3.3 School

Schools are the places where the pillars of a country are born. As an educator, apply a developmental perspective to each student and do not use test scores as the sole measure of student excellence. In addition to paying attention to the active students in the classroom, teachers should also pay attention to the silent classmates in the class to understand their study and life. Enrich school curriculum and extracurricular activities. Schools can develop more courses that help students develop physically and mentally, such as outdoor activities, speech competitions, and so on. In addition, schools can hold some lectures on mental health knowledge from time to time to teach students how to relieve pressure and balance internal conflicts.

3.4 Social aspects

Strengthen the monitoring and management of network information. In the face of a large amount of both reliable and unreliable information on the internet, it is essential to either install filtering software or control it at the source. All online platforms should effectively implement internet restriction policies for minors. Additionally, the state should vigorously develop entertainment facilities suitable for young people and organize offline activities that cater to the characteristics of youth. Less competition and more entertainment can help divert teenagers' attention from the Internet, enrich their extracurricular lives, effectively relieve pressure, and promote their overall happiness and growth.

Sidebar

How to cite this paper: Xueqin Chen. (2024). Causes of Adolescent Internet Addiction and Educational Counseling Strategies. The Educational Review, USA, 8(1), 62-65.

Received: January 12, 2024

Accepted: February 7, 2024

Published: March 4, 2024

Corresponding author: Xueqin Chen, Jilin Normal University, Siping, Jilin, China.

References

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