ממצאי סקר השימוש ביישומי האינטרנט, התנהגות ולמידה ברשת בקרב ילדים ובני נוער: "כן" לגלישה בטוחה, "לא" לשימוש כפייתי

This study explores the relationships between Internet application use, online
behavior, e-learning, Internet abuse - IA, and self-disclosure. An online
survey was administered to 3867 Israeli children and youth – including Jews,
Arabs, and Bedouins. Participants widely used the Internet for educational
purposes (e.g., preparing homework and searching for information). The
reported level of IA was relatively low. Regarding online relationship types,
for all ethnic groups the highest level of online communication was found for
traditional long-distance relationships with family and friends, lower level for
purely virtual communication with online acquaintances, and the lowest level
for migratory mixed-mode – meeting online acquaintances face-to-face.
However, the use of some applications and many forms of participant online
behavior differed across the ethnic groups, suggesting cultural diversity in
Internet usage. IA and self-disclosure highly correlated with each other for all
ethnic groups. Both IA and self-disclosure correlated with problematic online
activities (e.g., sending photos of one to online acquaintances, providing
them a school or home address, visiting sites with inappropriate content), as
well as exposure to unpleasant online experiences (e.g., receiving messages,
pictures, or videos that make the participants feel uncomfortable). Therefore,
online safety programs, exploring the potential danger of self-disclosure in
communication with online acquaintances is recommended. However, IA and
self-disclosure were unrelated to educational activities (e.g., learning with
classmates, preparing homework, or searching for information) and the use of
educational applications (e.g., reading and writing in class forums). These
findings have implications for education, suggesting that learning-oriented
Internet use is unlikely to cause IA.