Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica 2020, Vol. XXIX, N°2, 514-522
DOI: 10.24205/03276716.2020.271 514
I
NFLUENCE OF
I
NTERNET
T
ECHNOLOGY ON
M
ENTAL
H
EALTH AND
P
OSITIVE
E
MOTIONS OF
C
OLLEGE
S
TUDENTS
Meiying Zhang
Abstract
This paper aims to disclose how Internet technology affects the mental health and positive emotions of college students. The research data were collected through a questionnaire survey among the students from four normal colleges in China, and subjected to big data analysis. Through the analysis, the author put forward the correct understanding of Internet technology, summarized the negative impacts and emotions brought by the Internet technology to college students, and discussed the opportunities and challenges of the Internet technology on mental health education and positive emotion management. The results show that proper application of the Internet technology can effectively solve the mental problems and negative emotions of college students, providing an effective tool to mental counseling. The research results provide a reference for the correct application of the Internet technology in mental health education in the new era.
Key words: Internet Technology, Big Data, Positive Emotions, Mental Health Education. Received: 20-01-19 | Accepted: 07-08-19
INTRODUCTION
With the rapid rise of China's economy, the upgrading of science and technology, computer and Internet has been quietly infiltrated into all areas of society, become an indispensable tool in production and life. According to the statistical report of China Internet Network Information Center, we can see that in 2011, the number of Internet users in China had reached 514 million, in 2015, the number increased 300 million (Thome & Espelera, 2004). In addition to the growth in the number of Internet users, the education level of Internet users was also rising. In 2011, the number of Internet users who had college degree accounted for 32% of the total number of Internet users, by 2015, the proportion increased to 45%. Statistics tell us that the network has become an important tool for college students to learn, live, communicate.
Department of Tourism Taiyuan University, Taiyuan 030032, China.
E-Mail: [email protected]
However, the Internet, like everything else, has two sides (Masuda,Price, Anderson et al., 2010). It not only provides more opportunities and channels for the life and development of college students, but also brings some harm to the mental health education of college students. Thereby, how to guide the college students to draw on advantages and avoid disadvantages in the network environment, cultivate the good psychological quality of college students, is a big problem that the university educators need to focus on exploring (Kitzrow, 2003).
SURVEY METHODS AND RESULTS ANALYSIS
Survey objects and methods
In this paper, four normal college students were selected as the survey object, sampling surveyed full-time undergraduate college students from each grade, each profession and each academy of four normal colleges. Questionnaires involved with the surfing internet location, surfing internet time, surfing internet motivation and content and so on (Eisenberg, Downs, Golberstein et al., 2009). A
MEIYING ZHANG
515
total of 700 questionnaires were distribute, collected 693 valid questionnaires. The author used Excel and Spss10.0 statistical analysis software for data analysis, the results can basically reflect network behavior and awareness of the normal college students in Zhejiang Province, and the influence of Internet on college students' mental health (Yorgason, Linville, & Zitzman, 2008).
Survey results and analysis
(1) Analysis of the survey on the number and frequency of surfing the Internet showed that 98.36% of students had been to the Internet, the frequency of surfing the Internet is shown in Table 1.
Table 1.
Statistical table of surfing internet
frequency of college students
Almost every day
3-6 days a week
1-2 days a week
Less than one day a week 152
(23.25%)
178 (25.32%)
256 (35.21%)
56 (8.23%)
(2) Surfing internet location analysis
From the surfing internet location, 68.37% of students surfing internet in net bar, students who surfing internet in the school computer room and dormitory only accord for 14.44% and 16.19%. There are three reasons: First, the school computer room is less, with more students, often occur "Demand exceeds supply" situation (Castillo & Schwartz, 2013). Second, the computer in school is normally worse than
net bar, Internet speed is slow. Third, students when surfing internet in the net bar, they are more freedom, without restriction on time and content. Therefore, net bar became the first choice of students, indicating that the campus network hardware and software need to be strengthened.
(3) Surfing internet time analysis
From the surfing internet time, the average surfing internet time of college students is 7.07 hours a week, the longest continuous surfing internet time is 7.59 hours, the students have experience of overnight surfing internet accounted for 48.12%. When be asked the question "Do you think your surfing internet time is long or short", the answer in Table 2.
Table 2.
Inquirer' views of their surfing
Internet time
Too long Slightly long General The shorter 154
(21.36%)
159 (22.36%)
321 (15.56%)
59 (9.98%)
(4) The motivation and content of surfing internet analysis
Survey shows that: the main purpose of college students to surfing the internet is to chat and send and receive e-mail, only a small proportion of students is to download software and learn knowledge, specific statistical results is shown in Table 3 to Table 5.
Table 3.
The main purpose of surfing internet
Chat Find the information
Leisure entertainment
To know the news
Meet personal interests
Learning services
External communication
Reading books
Pursuit of fashion
521 541 410 215 256 254 136 152 98
Table 4.
Frequent used network services
Chat email Search
engine
Software download
Multimedia entertainment
Electronic bulletin board BBS
593 498 254 265 224 158
Online education Short messera service Internet phone others
INFLUENCE OF INTERNET TECHNOLOGY ON MENTAL HEALTH AND POSITIVE EMOTIONS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 516
Table 5.
The content of surfing internet which
occupied the longest time
Chat Study Play games
452(64.25%) 154(21.52%) 95(14.16%)
From the above data we can see that the number of college students surfing the internet is large, and the surfing time is very long, and main motivation of college students and the main content of the surfing internet is chat, entertainment and other leisure activities, rather than to learn (Taylor, Gardner, Bramoweth et al., 2011). Therefore, the network problem is a serious problem which the university ideological and political education work can’t avoid. From the survey results, we found among the network behavior of college students there are some outstanding problems, and affect the mental health of college students.
NEGATIVE INFLUENCE OF NETWORK ON COLLEGE STUDENTS' MENTAL HEALTH
The complexity and diversification of network information easily lead to learning psychological barriers and belief crisis of students
One of the characteristics of the Internet era is the diversification and abundant of information, and even information overload. Network bring people convenience life and "information enrichment", at the same time, it is easy to lead to the spiritual emptiness (Eisenberg, Hunt, Speer et al., 2011). In the network, people are easily access to information, but it is difficult to analyze the value of information, and effective usage of information. A large number of information is easy to downgrade human brain into the information network itself, when people are in front of the mess information, they will become six gods without a master, attempt and accomplish nothing. Over time, it will lead to loss, confusion and other negative emotions, anxiety, inattention, weak learning will and other learning psychological barriers.
The diversification of network information makes it easy for university students to feel the cultural differences between the East and the West. The western culture represented by the United States is constantly impacting the traditional Chinese cultural concepts
accumulated in the minds of college students, and the students' world view, view of life and values become unstable. The clash between cultures and moral concepts making college students easily fall into the confusion of beliefs. Therefore, ideological and political educators in universities should pay attention to the situation that college students have excess of information and poverty of thought, and guide them in time, only in this way can college students become useful talents with rich knowledge and perfect personality.
The virtual nature of network transmission easily leads to network personality disorder of college students
In the view of modern psychology, the network personality disorder of college students is a kind of behavioral feature between mental illness and normal personality. Specifically, it can be divided into paranoid personality, narcissistic personality, borderline personality and multiple personality and so on. The root of network personality disorder is the virtual nature of the network.
Network provides an open platform for people to understand information, learning knowledge. But the network is also a barrier, it covers the true face of people. The various activities on the network are carried out by people wearing a virtual identity masks in the virtual environment, it lacks the authenticity and certainty in real life. As the network behavior is mostly anonymous, some students think they don’t need to take responsibility for their words and deeds on the Internet, so their words and deeds are very casual, if it last too long, likely to cause offensive personality. The survey shows that 66.23% of students have scold rude words online. There are also some students often play the role which is very different with their actual identity and personality characteristics in the online communication, or even diametrically opposed virtual role, also have a number of screen names represent different identity and personality characteristics. (See Table 6)
Table 6.
The used identity in online chatting
One Two Three Four Five or more 52
(7.58%)
302 (45.32%)
152 (22.15%)
130 (14.21%)
49 (7.01%)
MEIYING ZHANG
517
Table 7.
Ever tell your internet friend your true
identity
Yes Say little No nonsense 185
(40.25%)
245 (41.26%)
84 (19.24%)
45 (4.25%)
As can be seen from Table 7, when some student are online and offline, as if they were not the same person. With too frequent transform between the multiple roles, will lead to role conflict, and ultimately lead to network personality disorder. Obsessed with the network is the direct consequence of the split personality, interpersonal alienation, alienation of human nature, increased mental disorders. Therefore, it is urgent to create a good spiritual and cultural value system and a healthy network atmosphere.
The uniqueness of network communication easily leads to interpersonal barriers of students
The network has increased the channel of people's communication, and changed the way people communicate with each other. However, the virtual living environment of the Internet era, continuous decreasing the opportunities for students to participate in collective activities and the actual social life, many people are too
lazy to directly communication and interaction. In the relatively closed environment of "man-machine-man", the chance of direct contact with other people and society is reduced, which may easily lead to their self-closing and generate interpersonal obstacles (Locke, Bieschke, Castonguay et al., 2012).
Generate communication barriers with the schoolmate, friends
Online communication has its advantages of being open, virtual and free from space and social status restrictions. But in the long run, it will strengthen the satisfaction of students in the virtual world, weaken their communication skills in reality. Survey shows that 78.64% of students think that online dating is easier than that in real world, 49.06% of students think that they are more talkative when they are online. The communication ability of students has big different between online and in the real world, as is shown in Figure 1. On the one hand, they can be active in the online thinking and speaking with fervor and assurance, on the other hand, they are self-locking in reality, and even fear the reality of interpersonal communication. Therefore, these students are difficult to locate their role in reality, often put their emotional experience in the virtual world of network (Kirsch,Pinder-Amaker, Morse et al., 2014).
Figure 1
.
The development of the network mental health
The development of
the network mental health
The concept of network mental health
The concept of network mental health
The goal of the network mental health
The characteristics of the network mental health
Networks bring new opportunities to the mental health
Network a new challenge to the mental health
Network mental health methods
The safeguard mechanism of mental health network
The operation of the network mental health mechanism
INFLUENCE OF INTERNET TECHNOLOGY ON MENTAL HEALTH AND POSITIVE EMOTIONS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 518
College life is the important period that interpersonal skills and interpersonal relationships formed, network communication and real communication are very different, it is difficult to form a true, reliable and safe interpersonal relationships (Li, Li, Liu et al., 2008). The network communication of college students is in the indirect form and with feature of symbolization, which definitely open a convenient door for the interpersonal communication of students who are weak in conversation and social communication (seen in Figure 2). But if when we encounter cold and frustration in the real interpersonal, we not actively to adjust and improve, but choose to give up, instead of indulging in network communication, showing no care to the people and things around, indifference, we are will be caught in an isolated and emptiness of mind. From the student's growth point of view, is clearly harmful.
Affect the development of college students’
correct view of love
Emotional communication is one of the main aspects of college students' online communication. There are two main aspects in emotional needs of college students: First one, to seek the heterosexual friends or objects. The students in the survey have averaged 12.78 regular contact users, of which there are 9.93 heterosexual users, accounting for 77.70%. Second one, for emotional satisfaction and psychological pleasure. 87.01% of the students heard of online dating, 73.30% of students appreciate online dating, 73.45% of students said they would try online dating if have the
opportunity (Pedrelli, Nyer, Yeung et al., 2015). Because online dating is through the network media, relying on the text, it lacks important basic link which is generation and continuation of love—emotional. Therefore, the success rate of online dating is very low, most of them are easily failed (as is shown in Figure 3).
College students are in peak period of the emotional experience, longing for the opposite sex, eager to emotion is normal. But online dating of college students often lack of sincere, irresponsible online flirting may result in harm to the side who sincere treated. Online dating will also lead to game love and breeding of other love psychology, distorted love view.
The flooding of Internet pornography easily leads to psychosexual disorder of college students
Network is a treasury of information, but also a "garbage dump". A variety of academic, entertainment, economic, and pornographic and violent messages mixed together. Young people with weak self-control tend to be out of curiosity or impulsive psychological deliberately to find some pornographic, violent information. According to statistics, 65.51% of students had intentionally or unintentionally broke into the porn website, 7.07% of students often visit porn websites. When be asked about how to look at porn websites, the students' responses were beyond author’s expectation. Only 48.91% of students were disgusted with pornography, while 22.66% thought pornography was harmless.
Figure 2
.
System administrators to mental health education
The administrator function
System management Resource management
System parame
ters
Rights manag ement
Role manag ement
Agency informa tion mainten
ance
Science period
of mainte
nance
Bulk import person
nel
Bulk import school
Bulk import discipl
ine
Personnel audit
Maintenance personnel information
MEIYING ZHANG
519
Figure 3
.
The working process of the decision tree of mental health computer system
Select category property
Choose the training set
The calculation of each attribute information gain rate
Choose the maximum of information gain rate as a root node, and according to its value
Determine whether there is any new properties
To generate the decision tree model no
no Yes
Yes
China's current sexual health education lags behind the reality needs. Sexual knowledge of high school students, college students is the main source from newspapers and books, radio and television and the Internet, while sexual knowledge from teachers and parents is minimal. Unhealthy sexual information and sexual attitudes in the network easily lead to abnormal development of sexual psychology and sexual behavior, resulting in voyeurism, sadism, fetishism and other abnormal behavior, and even lead to sexual crimes.
Online communication has its advantages of being open, virtual and free from space and social status restrictions. But in the long run, it will strengthen the satisfaction of students in the virtual world, weaken their communication skills in reality. Survey shows that students think that online dating is easier than that in real world, students think that they are more talkative when they are online. The communication ability of students has big different between online and in the real world. On the one hand, they can be
active in the online thinking and speaking with fervor and assurance, on the other hand, they are self-locking in reality, and even fear the reality of interpersonal communication. Therefore, these students are difficult to locate their role in reality, often put their emotional experience in the virtual world of network.
CONSTRUCT MENTAL HEALTH EDUCATION
SYSTEM
FOR
COLLEGE
STUDENTS
IN
NETWORK
Speeding up the construction of campus network facilities, and actively occupying the main line of the college ideological and moral construction in network
Network has opened up a new position for the ideological and political education. The existence of this position depends on the network hardware and software construction. On the hardware side, the main reasons for the 79% of the students choosing the net bar outside the university are factors that limitation of the
INFLUENCE OF INTERNET TECHNOLOGY ON MENTAL HEALTH AND POSITIVE EMOTIONS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 520
Figure 4
.
Computer-aided college student management method
Students
Application of course Culture courses
Mental health courses
Input the information of students thought
Input the information of students life
Input the information of students Interpersonal
communication
Self-study +
tutoring Face-to-face
Practice+ experience + tutoring
Teachers
number of computers in computer room, limitation the speed of the network, and a lot of restrictions (Kovess-Masfety, Leray, Denis et al., 2016). While lacking of necessary management and supervision in the external of school, easily get out of control. On the Software side, pay close attention to the construction of ideological and political characteristics website of the school, through the ideological and political website construction, make full use of the richness, which is shown in Figure 4. Vivid and interesting features of the network resources, by using graphics, animation, sound and other ways to making the content of ideological and political education become vivid and intuitive and interesting, then to attract the majority of students, so that our moral content is not only rich and diverse than before, but also edutainment, and constantly enhance the persuasiveness and appeal of ideological and political education (Shatkin & Diamond, 2015).
Perfecting the organizational structure, improving the rules and regulations, to strengthening the supervision, management and
guidance of college student’s network behavior
The necessary school management
mechanism is the basis to ensure the achievement of student online education. Schools should perfect the organizational structure, improve the rules and regulations, strengthen the supervision, management and guidance of college student’s network behavior. Firstly, the school shall regulate network operation in the rules and regulations, strengthen management of the local area network and campus network, implementation of real name registration system, and establish a permanent institution for network information management. Students shall set up the corresponding organizations or associations, to achieve "education, management, self-service" function of student organizations in the network education. Secondly, setting up network behavior guidelines, through the review, monitoring and other patterns to regulate the network behavior of college students, while restricting access to websites with certain harmful information sources, and as far as possible by using of technical means to building a information "Firewall" in the internal network and external network interface, thereby all internal and external connections be mandatory checked the filtered by the
MEIYING ZHANG
521
information "firewall", furthermore intercept channel where harmful information enter into, realizing purpose of purify the cyberspace.
Efforts to carrying out online mental health work, safeguarding the mental health of college students
Ideological and political education workers should aware of the problems communication of college students in the network, guide the students to cross the critical line of the virtual world and the real world, abandon the illusion, face their problems in real life, build confidence and enhance social responsibility. To make full use of the network, and actively carry out online mental health work: First is the publicity of the network mental health knowledge, make students aware of the dangers of obsession with the network and addicted to online dating, timely adjustment of psychology. The second is to carry out online psychological tests to help students understand and master their own mental health status in time. The third is to carry out online guidance and online psychological counseling, through hiring psychological experts, in the form of E-mail to dealing with psychological barriers faced by the students at various stages.
CONCLUSIONS
The 21st century is the era of information technology, the rapid development of network technology, the spread and maturity of network culture will be irresistible. It gives us a strong impact on the spiritual, emotional, moral and so on. We should from the perspective of college student’s mental health education, to strengthen the guidance of college multi-faceted multi-angle, to improve their judgment of things and self-binding, so that they can improve their own while enjoying the achievements of modern science and technology, can effectively choose information that is useful to their own growth, to guide students to study hard, courage, willing to sacrifice, become the new promising generation in the new century that Chinese science and technology and humanities coordinated development.
In the network, people are easily access to information, but it is difficult to analyze the value of information, and effective usage of information. A large number of information is easy to downgrade human brain into the
information network itself, when people are in front of the mess information, they will become six gods without a master, attempt and accomplish nothing. Over time, it will lead to loss, confusion and other negative emotions, anxiety, inattention, weak learning will and other learning psychological barriers. The diversification of network information makes it easy for university students to feel the cultural differences between the East and the West. The western culture represented by the United States is constantly impacting the traditional Chinese cultural concepts accumulated in the minds of college students, and the students' world view, view of life and values become unstable. The clash between cultures and moral concepts making college students easily fall into the confusion of beliefs.
Therefore, ideological and political educators in universities should pay attention to the situation that college students have excess of information and poverty of thought, and guide them in time, only in this way can college students become useful talents with rich knowledge and perfect personality.
Acknowledgments
Education Science Planning Project in Shanxi Province, Application of Psychological Technology in College Ideological and Political Education under the Background of Big Data, Question No.: GH-18112.
REFERENCES
Castillo, L. G., & Schwartz, S. J. (2013). Introduction to the special issue on college student mental health. Journal of clinical psychology, 69(4), 291-297.
Eisenberg, D., Downs, M. F., Golberstein, E., & Zivin, K. (2009). Stigma and help seeking for mental health among college students.
Medical Care Research and Review, 66(5), 522-541.
Eisenberg, D., Hunt, J., Speer, N., & Zivin, K. (2011). Mental health service utilization among college students in the United States.
The Journal of nervous and mental disease,
199(5), 301-308.
Kirsch, D. J., Pinder-Amaker, S. L., Morse, C., Ellison, M. L., Doerfler, L. A., & Riba, M. B. (2014). Population-based initiatives in
INFLUENCE OF INTERNET TECHNOLOGY ON MENTAL HEALTH AND POSITIVE EMOTIONS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS 522
college mental health: Students helping students to overcome obstacles. Current psychiatry reports, 16(12), 525.
Kitzrow, M. A. (2003). The mental health needs of today's college students: Challenges and recommendations. NASPA journal, 41(1), 167-181.
Kovess-Masfety, V., Leray, E., Denis, L., Husky, M., Pitrou, I., & Bodeau-Livinec, F. (2016). Mental health of college students and their non-college-attending peers: results from a large French cross-sectional survey. BMC psychology, 4(1), 20.
Li, H., Li, W., Liu, Q., Zhao, A., Prevatt, F., & Yang, J. (2008). Variables predicting the mental health status of Chinese college students.
Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 1(2), 37-41. Locke, B. D., Bieschke, K. J., Castonguay, L. G., &
Hayes, J. A. (2012). The center for collegiate mental health: Studying college student mental health through an innovative research infrastructure that brings science and practice together. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 20(4), 233-245.
Masuda, A., Price, M., Anderson, P. L., & Wendell, J. W. (2010). Disordered eating-related cognition and psychological flexibility
as predictors of psychological health among college students. Behavior Modification,
34(1), 3-15.
Pedrelli, P., Nyer, M., Yeung, A., Zulauf, C., & Wilens, T. (2015). College students: mental health problems and treatment considerations. Academic Psychiatry, 39(5), 503-511.
Shatkin, J. P., & Diamond, U. (2015). Psychiatry’s next generation: teaching college students about mental health. Academic Psychiatry,
39(5), 527-532.
Taylor, D. J., Gardner, C. E., Bramoweth, A. D., Williams, J. M., Roane, B. M., Grieser, E. A., & Tatum, J. I. (2011). Insomnia and mental health in college students. Behavioral sleep medicine, 9(2), 107-116.
Thome, J., & Espelage, D. L. (2004). Relations among exercise, coping, disordered eating, and psychological health among college students. Eating behaviors, 5(4), 337-351. Yorgason, J. B., Linville, D., & Zitzman, B. (2008).
Mental health among college students: do those who need services know about and use them. Journal of American College Health,
