Survey for school assignment

[The Lady Shael]

This is for my composition class, I'm writing a research paper on if excessive Internet usage has any effect on brain development. It would be awesome if you filled out this survey and messaged it back to me.
Feel free to elaborate on any of the questions. I need this ASAP!


Your name:
Your age:

1. How much time, on average, do you spend on the Internet every day?
A. less than an hour B. 1-3 hours C. 4-6 hours D. 7+ hours

2. Do you mostly use the Internet for educational purposes?

3. Name up to 5 websites that you check regularly. (besides your email)



4. Do you think you are addicted to the Internet? Why?



5. Do you think spending time on the Internet has more of a positive or negative effect on your studies?


6. At what age did you start using the computers/the Internet regularly?


7. When on the computer, do you spend most of your time on the Internet?

8. Do you use ?Internet slang?? (ex: brb, lol, u for you, r for are)

9. How outgoing and talkative are you now? (pick one)
Not very talkative Mostly quiet A little of both Mostly talkative Very talkative

10. Do you think your personality would be different if you didn?t spend a lot of time on the Internet?


11. If you spend more than an hour on the Internet every day, do you think that spending time at the computer has affected your social skills in any way? How so?

12. Do you think Internet addiction is or can be as serious as a drug addiction? Why or why not?


13. Does spending time on the computer affect your physical well-being in any way? (ex: carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep/eating irregularities, back/neck problems, headaches)

[Ashyra Nightwing]

Your name: what, my actual name? Imogen Thomas
Your age: 16

1. How much time, on average, do you spend on the Internet every day?
A. less than an hour B. 1-3 hours C. 4-6 hours D. 7+ hours
...I'd say B usually.

2. Do you mostly use the Internet for educational purposes?
nah.

3. Name up to 5 websites that you check regularly. (besides your email)
uh, RWL, LiveJournal, DeviantArt, (as much as I hate it) Myspace,  NaNoWriMo.org at the moment... that's pretty much it.



4. Do you think you are addicted to the Internet? Why?
I'm... semi-addicted. It's just like... escaping from real life for a while. I can live without it, though. I'm nowhere near as addicted as I was a year or so ago.


5. Do you think spending time on the Internet has more of a positive or negative effect on your studies?
Positive, I suppose.

6. At what age did you start using the computers/the Internet regularly?
13

7. When on the computer, do you spend most of your time on the Internet?
Yes.

8. Do you use ?Internet slang?? (ex: brb, lol, u for you, r for are)
No.

9. How outgoing and talkative are you now? (pick one)
Not very talkative Mostly quiet A little of both Mostly talkative Very talkative
I'm mostly talkative.

10. Do you think your personality would be different if you didn?t spend a lot of time on the Internet?
Yeah, I reckon I'd be different now if I hadn't spent so much time on the Internet in the past.


11. If you spend more than an hour on the Internet every day, do you think that spending time at the computer has affected your social skills in any way? How so?
No, not really. If anything the internet's improved my social skills.

12. Do you think Internet addiction is or can be as serious as a drug addiction? Why or why not?
No.

13. Does spending time on the computer affect your physical well-being in any way? (ex: carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep/eating irregularities, back/neck problems, headaches)
Nope.

[windhound]

Your name:  Trevor
Your age:  20

1. How much time, on average, do you spend on the Internet every day?
C. 4-6 hours
...I guess, I dont really time myself.  probably should

2. Do you mostly use the Internet for educational purposes?
mostly?  nope.
unless your def. of educational is different than mine

3. Name up to 5 websites that you check regularly. (besides your email)
redwallwarlords.com, faf.staronesw.com, slashdot.com, news.google.com, craigslist.com  + a list of various webcomics

4. Do you think you are addicted to the Internet? Why?
more than likely.  too cheap to buy a newspaper, dont care to watch much tv, its my main source of current events and a repository of knowledge for just about anything (with the knowledge that info from unknown sites should be verified before accepted as true)

5. Do you think spending time on the Internet has more of a positive or negative effect on your studies?
oh, probably negative.  like now I should be studying instead of filling out this survey. 
but its a good break, so in that way its helpful
I also type papers much more quickly, so there's another plus

6. At what age did you start using the computers/the Internet regularly?
eh.  my first computer with internets was a compaq with a celeron 266mhz proc.  however old that is + a year or two for 'regular usage' ...  AOL!  = P
guess around..  I donno, 12

7. When on the computer, do you spend most of your time on the Internet?
yes.

8. Do you use ?Internet slang?? (ex: brb, lol, u for you, r for are)
lol, brb yes
u and r no. 

9. How outgoing and talkative are you now? (pick one)
Mostly quiet

10. Do you think your personality would be different if you didn?t spend a lot of time on the Internet?
not really. 

11. If you spend more than an hour on the Internet every day, do you think that spending time at the computer has affected your social skills in any way? How so?
*shrug*
If not for the internet, I probably would have found some other way to amuse myself.  I dont much care for parties nor team sports

12. Do you think Internet addiction is or can be as serious as a drug addiction? Why or why not?
drug?  no.  drug addictions affect other people.  glued to a computer screen does not.  its also much much cheaper than most drug addictions and, for the most part, does not cause physical or mental harm.

13. Does spending time on the computer affect your physical well-being in any way? (ex: carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep/eating irregularities, back/neck problems, headaches)
mild carpal tunnel possibly, might have somone look at my wrist
the rest, no.  unless I'm using a really really crappy crt with a bad refresh rate.  flickering screens do not agree with me..

[bjornredtail]

The survay is somewhat technically flawed.... In one form or another I am "on" the internet in one form or another 24/7. Don't belive me, try pinging hornet.csc.calpoly.edu . I have an account there, where I could be running services off of (and yes that would include a web server that I have not put to use, yes).

Your name: Andrew M.
Your age: 28

1. How much time, on average, do you spend on the Internet every day?
C. 4-6 hours

2. Do you mostly use the Internet for educational purposes?
Yes, if you count ssh-ing into the above mentioned server.

3. Name up to 5 websites that you check regularly. (besides your email)
http://faf.staronesw.com
http://www.slashdot.org


4. Do you think you are addicted to the Internet? Why?
Not particularly, though given the particular


5. Do you think spending time on the Internet has more of a positive or negative effect on your studies?
Spending time on the Internet is necessary for my studies. In fact, in two of my theree 'big' classes all of the assignments are electronic.

6. At what age did you start using the computers/the Internet regularly?
Some odd time ago. 1998, so 10? That can't be right, can it?

7. When on the computer, do you spend most of your time on the Internet?
Yes

8. Do you use ?Internet slang?? (ex: brb, lol, u for you, r for are)
More like gamer slang (like pwned) in reguards to (you guessed it) games.

9. How outgoing and talkative are you now? (pick one)
A little of both

10. Do you think your personality would be different if you didn?t spend a lot of time on the Internet?
No.

11. If you spend more than an hour on the Internet every day, do you think that spending time at the computer has affected your social skills in any way? How so?


12. Do you think Internet addiction is or can be as serious as a drug addiction? Why or why not?
Perhaps... Though calling it an 'Internet addiction' would be a misnomer unless you are a systems programmer (ie. I've rewritten my TCP/IP shack 15 times and I can't stop doing it! :) ). Most people would simply concider the Internet a means of accessing content. So it would be an addiction to the said content, not the Internet itself.


13. Does spending time on the computer affect your physical well-being in any way? (ex: carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep/eating irregularities, back/neck problems, headaches)
Not really. Sure I go coding or gameing late into the night sometimes, but not all that often.

[Ruddertail]

Real Name: Jacob Linn
Age: 16

1: How much time, on average, do you spend on the Internet every day?

1 - 3 hrs

2: Do you mostly use the Internet for educational purposes?

No.

3. Name up to 5 websites that you check regularly. (besides your email)

FAF, RWL, FEE, Mossflower Patrol

4. Do you think you are addicted to the Internet? Why?

No. While I spend a lot of time on it, I'm not compelled to use it or something. Not addiction in my book.

5. Do you think spending time on the Internet has more of a positive or negative effect on your studies?

Probably both. It helps me. It also takes up time that I should be doing schoolwork in. On the other hand, that usually just means I have to binge on schoolwork, nothing really suffers for it.

6. At what age did you start using the computers/the Internet regularly?

13

7. When on the computer, do you spend most of your time on the Internet?

On an overall average, yes. It varies case by case. Sometimes I don't go on the net at all. Sometimes I sign on for 2 hours strait and don't do anything else.

8:

To some extent. I'll use abbriviations (brb, lol) but not stuff like u, r, etc.

9. How outgoing and talkative are you now? (pick one)

Depends on the context. Probably "Mostly quiet" if I had to pick from that list.

10. Do you think your personality would be different if you didn?t spend a lot of time on the Internet?

Possibley. I have no idea how it might have been different, though.

11. If you spend more than an hour on the Internet every day, do you think that spending time at the computer has affected your social skills in any way? How so?

Not really sure. If anything, it's been a positive affect, given the amount of people I have to interact with over the i - net as opposed to the number I'd have to interact with irl. I could stick to myself a lot more if it weren't for various promi games...

12. Do you think Internet addiction is or can be as serious as a drug addiction? Why or why not?

That depends. If it gets to the point where you are dependent on it and experience withdrawl symptoms (other then extreme bordem), yes. But I'd need to look at some medical studies to really answer that.

13. Does spending time on the computer affect your physical well-being in any way? (ex: carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep/eating irregularities, back/neck problems, headaches)

I get less sleep. But that happens with whatever activity I invariabley do instead of the schoolwork I should be doing... :P

[Aqualis]

Your name: Josh F.
Your age: 17

1. How much time, on average, do you spend on the Internet every day?
c. 4-6

2. Do you mostly use the Internet for educational purposes?
Not specifically.

3. Name up to 5 websites that you check regularly. (besides your email)
Redwall: Warlords Forums
Megatokyo
Applegeeks
Various blogs and RSS feeds


4. Do you think you are addicted to the Internet? Why?
Possibly, when I can't think of anything to do I usually get on the internet.


5. Do you think spending time on the Internet has more of a positive or negative effect on your studies?
Not sure. I got a 31 on the ACT so it can't be hurting me to much.

6. At what age did you start using the computers/the Internet regularly?
11

7. When on the computer, do you spend most of your time on the Internet?
Yes

8. Do you use ?Internet slang?? (ex: brb, lol, u for you, r for are)
Not very often.

9. How outgoing and talkative are you now? (pick one)
A little of both.

10. Do you think your personality would be different if you didn?t spend a lot of time on the Internet?
I believe it would have been had I not spent so much time online in the past, but if I were to stop right now it wouldn't change much.

11. If you spend more than an hour on the Internet every day, do you think that spending time at the computer has affected your social skills in any way? How so?
Yes, it's made them better.

12. Do you think Internet addiction is or can be as serious as a drug addiction? Why or why not?
Yes, it could be an addiction. And by addiction I mean something that you are so obbsessed with that you can no longer function normally. Normal being relative, of course.

13. Does spending time on the computer affect your physical well-being in any way? (ex: carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep/eating irregularities, back/neck problems, headaches)
No, not as long as I remember to sit up straight.

[Gen. Volkov]

Your name: Dan T.
Your age: 22

1. How much time, on average, do you spend on the Internet every day?
B. 1-3 hours or C. 4-6 hours Depends.

2. Do you mostly use the Internet for educational purposes? Hell no.

3. Name up to 5 websites that you check regularly. (besides your email)
RWL, FAF, ME, RAF209, Myspace


4. Do you think you are addicted to the Internet? Why?
No, because unless I'm playing a game that requires daily attention, I don't feel the need to go on every day.


5. Do you think spending time on the Internet has more of a positive or negative effect on your studies?
Negative. I don't study when I'm online, and my grades get worse as my usage goes up.

6. At what age did you start using the computers/the Internet regularly?
Ummmm. Whenever we first got a modem. Prolly 1994, which would be about age 10.

7. When on the computer, do you spend most of your time on the Internet?
Yes.

8. Do you use ?Internet slang?? (ex: brb, lol, u for you, r for are)
ROFL, of course.

9. How outgoing and talkative are you now? (pick one)
Mostly talkative

10. Do you think your personality would be different if you didn?t spend a lot of time on the Internet?
People would have issues with how much I talk.

11. If you spend more than an hour on the Internet every day, do you think that spending time at the computer has affected your social skills in any way? How so?
No, all of my friends are primarily contacted through the net. And my social skills are fine, I can make new friends pretty easily.

12. Do you think Internet addiction is or can be as serious as a drug addiction? Why or why not?
No, because there is no chemical dependency, it's all emotional, I've never seen anyone who had to be physically dragged away from the computer.

13. Does spending time on the computer affect your physical well-being in any way? (ex: carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep/eating irregularities, back/neck problems, headaches)
Yes. I have a little carpal tunnel, I go to bed way to late, but really otherwise I'm fine.

[Aqualis]

I've never seen anyone who had to be physically dragged away from the computer.

You've obviously never read about the South Korea WOW addicts. Several of them have died. Several dozen, from this sort of thing.

[Gen. Volkov]

Really? Wow. Any links?

[Arguia Zsah]

Your name: S.
Your age: 16

1. How much time, on average, do you spend on the Internet every day?

1-3 hours on average... occassionally longer.

2. Do you mostly use the Internet for educational purposes?

  Nope. Screw education.

3. Name up to 5 websites that you check regularly. (besides your email)

errrmmm... RWL, and *cringe* neopets (it's sooo much less boring than sitting in your room doing nothing o.0)

4. Do you think you are addicted to the Internet? Why?

I spend to much time on it, but hey, bets real life.

5. Do you think spending time on the Internet has more of a positive or negative effect on your studies?

Not at school/college at the moment... so n/a.

6. At what age did you start using the computers/the Internet regularly?

When I got the 'net... so about 14 I guess (at home) although I was using it at school before but not as much.

7. When on the computer, do you spend most of your time on the Internet?

Yup.

8. Do you use ?Internet slang?? (ex: brb, lol, u for you, r for are)

When talking to someone on instant messengers I know well, otherwise I stick to proper English with a few execeptinos (e.g. 'lol' 'omg')

9. How outgoing and talkative are you now? (pick one)

At the moment not very outgoing at all.

10. Do you think your personality would be different if you didn?t spend a lot of time on the Internet?

Perhaps. Change that... yes. But in a bad way.

11. If you spend more than an hour on the Internet every day, do you think that spending time at the computer has affected your social skills in any way? How so?

I talk to more people than I would otherwise... so I guess it has affected my 'social skills'.. I get on a lot better chatting onlnie than in real life.

12. Do you think Internet addiction is or can be as serious as a drug addiction? Why or why not?

In extreme cases - yes. Otherwise no - stealing the modem works quite well at stopping people accessing the net (*pokes parents* Don't do it...  :evil:)

13. Does spending time on the computer affect your physical well-being in any way? (ex: carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep/eating irregularities, back/neck problems, headaches)

I get neck/back ache if I'm on for too long. But it doesn't last lnog.

[Aqualis]

@Volkov: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_addiction

[Gen. Volkov]

Wow. Never realized it could be that bad. Still, other than you killing yourself, I don't don't think it's as bad as actual crack, as opposed to World of WarCrack, or the digital crack that is Snood.

[RazorClaw]

This is for my composition class, I'm writing a research paper on if excessive Internet usage has any effect on brain development. It would be awesome if you filled out this survey and messaged it back to me.
Feel free to elaborate on any of the questions. I need this ASAP!


Your name: Calvin
Your age: 14

1. How much time, on average, do you spend on the Internet every day?
A. less than an hour B. 1-3 hours C. 4-6 hours D. 7+ hours
B
2. Do you mostly use the Internet for educational purposes?
Yes
3. Name up to 5 websites that you check regularly. (besides your email)
Ebay, YouTube, RWL, Goaliestore.com BB, Google chatting


4. Do you think you are addicted to the Internet? Why?
No. I don't need to get on it every day, for multiple hours a day -- I just prefer to.


5. Do you think spending time on the Internet has more of a positive or negative effect on your studies?
Given that I take school over it, positive. Even aside from that, it is an invaluable research tool. Plus YouTube pwnz ju.


6. At what age did you start using the computers/the Internet regularly?
Twelve.


7. When on the computer, do you spend most of your time on the Internet?
Yes.

8. Do you use ?Internet slang?? (ex: brb, lol, u for you, r for are)
Only when I must.
9. How outgoing and talkative are you now? (pick one)
Not very talkative Mostly quiet A little of both Mostly talkative Very talkative
Mostly Talkative

10. Do you think your personality would be different if you didn?t spend a lot of time on the Internet?
Yes. I think I'd be less cynical, less knowledgeable. My philosophical and mental developement would probably be rewound.

11. If you spend more than an hour on the Internet every day, do you think that spending time at the computer has affected your social skills in any way? How so?
Only positively, by dealing with groups of more diverse people.

12. Do you think Internet addiction is or can be as serious as a drug addiction? Why or why not?
No. Drug addiction is a proven physical condition, internet addiction is like addiction to a book series -- you can wean yourself off of it, unlike drug addiction.

13. Does spending time on the computer affect your physical well-being in any way? (ex: carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep/eating irregularities, back/neck problems, headaches)
No

[Peace Alliance]

Your name:Peace Alliance?
Your age: 19

1. How much time, on average, do you spend on the Internet every day?
A. less than an hour B. 1-3 hours C. 4-6 hours D. 7+ hours
C

2. Do you mostly use the Internet for educational purposes?
No

3. Name up to 5 websites that you check regularly. (besides your email)
RWL
Deviantart.com
conventusweb.com
thotbott.com
isohunt.com

4. Do you think you are addicted to the Internet? Why?
No, i don't crave it, i only use it as a distraction from the real world. I do much the same thing with reading novels, or escaping in my art or music.

5. Do you think spending time on the Internet has more of a positive or negative effect on your studies?
Positive: inspiration

6. At what age did you start using the computers/the Internet regularly?
9

7. When on the computer, do you spend most of your time on the Internet?
Yes

8. Do you use ?Internet slang?? (ex: brb, lol, u for you, r for are)
Sadly, yes

9. How outgoing and talkative are you now? (pick one)
Mostly talkative

10. Do you think your personality would be different if you didn?t spend a lot of time on the Internet?
Yes

11. If you spend more than an hour on the Internet every day, do you think that spending time at the computer has affected your social skills in any way? How so?
Yes. I know when i first started talking on instant messangers i loved being able to say things that i normally wouldn't say in person. Fast forward ten years and now I will say almost anything in person, i have less fear to say things to people.

12. Do you think Internet addiction is or can be as serious as a drug addiction? Why or why not?
There is no physical desire to be on the internet. Of course drugs aren't only bad for you because of the addiction, but because they sometimes become a way to escape reality. Computers can do exactly that. But so can anything that takes you out of your body or... even just anything that distracts you.

13. Does spending time on the computer affect your physical well-being in any way? (ex: carpal tunnel syndrome, sleep/eating irregularities, back/neck problems, headaches)
Sleeping for sure, and it also makes you lead a less active life.

[windhound]

http://science.slashdot.org/science/06/10/19/1931239.shtml

http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10322-us-internet-addicts-as-ill-as-alcoholics.html

relivant artical, I include the slashdot source because the user comments occasionally amuse me