The causality between Internet use and academic performance of university students

Ask today's university students how much they can tolerate an entire day with no internet connectivity, their responses may not be quite cheerful. As digital gadgets such as smartphones, tablets and laptops become widespread, coupled with convenient access to the Internet through broadband and mobile networks, Internet use has proliferated among students. They spend a considerable amount of time in cyberspace, alone or with friends, engaged in their favourite Internet activities. Some of these Internet activities are closely linked to their school work but some are not. Thus, a main concern of parents and educators is whether spending too much time on the Internet affects academic performance. To find the causality between Internet use and academic performance, we developed a multinomial logistic regression model and asked a group of university students about their Internet use. All predictor variables as regards Internet use and the outcome variable, which is specific to academic performance, are categorical. In addition, we posited that gender has a role in the relationships. The findings of this study provide some useful information about the use of the Internet by university students and its effect on their academic performance