Ideal Internet usage and academic achievement: finding the right balance

Abstract

Younger generations have grown up with the Internet. Far from being a purely information search engine, the Internet has become fully integrated into the way children live and learn today. It has changed the way children interact with each other and carry out their daily tasks. In this sense and given that children spend more and more time playing video games and on social networks, we have tried to analyse the impact that daily Internet use may have on 6th grade primary school students’ academic performance in Spain. To do so, we have used interval multiobjective programming, which allows us to identify usage patterns and students' traits that maximise their academic performance. Our results show that while daily use of social networks impairs academic performance, using the Internet to listen to music or search for information on other topics of interest helps to maximise students’ academic achievement.