The internet in the life of high school youth – a statistical analysis based on a survey

Abstract

In order to assess the level of development of the information society, in addition to the knowledge of the impact of the Internet on social life, the opinion of school students about its advantages and disadvantages is also important. This social group quickly discovers the potential application possibilities of the Internet. The virtual world generated by the Internet creates an opportunity to achieve positive as well as negative goals, influencing the personality of the youngster. The paper presents the results of a survey aimed at obtaining opinion from both male and female students of S. Goszczyński Secondary School number 1 in Nowy Targ on advantages and disadvantages of the Internet. A total of 109 students took part in the survey, including 57 female students and 52 male ones. The results of the research were developed separately for female and male students, taking into account, among others, issues related to: activities connected with the Internet, the use of Internet resources and services, communication via the Internet and its use for learning, as well as the risks associated with its use. Moreover, the values of the similarity coefficient of the structure of the distribution of responses in the samples of both male and female students were presented, as well as the power of the statistical relationship of indications depending on the student’s sex was examined.