Perception towards the effects of Internet-based education among adolescents: A cross-sectional study

Background: In the era of internet dependency on educa�on, the study aimed to determine the percep�on of the eﬀects of internet-based educa�on (IBE) among adolescents. Methods: This cross-seconal study included conveniently selected 140 adolescent students and 60 of their parents from a secondary school located in Sabujbag thana of Dhaka city. Data were collected through a quesonnaire-based interview on adolescents’ IBE and its physical, psychological, and social eﬀects. Results: On average, adolescents and parents were 15 and 42 years old. Parents provided more nega�ve input on physical health such as headache (88.3 vs 65.0%, P <0.01), sleep disrup�on (76.7 vs. 52.9%, P <0.01), and backache (90.0 vs 44.3%, P<0.01) compared to the adolescents. However, they had similar percep�ons about physical ac�vity. Parents showed more concern about the poten�al loss of mo�va�on and self-discipline (73.3 vs 48.6%, P =0.002). Adolescents were more op�mis�c about community networking (92.9 vs. 81.7%). The opposite views were expressed by the parents that long screen �me un-dermines societal values (66.7 vs. 15.7%, P <0.001). Conclusion: Although there were diﬀerences between the percep�ons of parents and adolescents, IBE was favoured in many instances such as pain�ng/drawing skills, ge�ng updated informa�on, school performance, social skills, and community networking.


ABSTRACT
Background: In the era of internet dependency on educa on, the study aimed to determine the percep on of the effects of internet-based educa on (IBE) among adolescents.
Methods: This cross-sec onal study included conveniently selected 140 adolescent students and 60 of their parents from a secondary school located in Sabujbag thana of Dhaka city.Data were collected through a ques onnaire-based interview on adolescents' IBE and its physical, psychological, and social effects.
Results: On average, adolescents and parents were 15 and 42 years old.Parents provided more nega ve input on physical health such as headache (88.3 vs 65.0%, P<0.01), sleep disrup on (76.7 vs. 52.9%,P<0.01), and backache (90.0 vs 44.3%, P<0.01) compared to the adolescents.However, they had similar percep ons about physical ac vity.Parents showed more concern about the poten al loss of mo va on and self-discipline (73.3 vs 48.6%, P=0.002).Adolescents were more op mis c about community networking (92.9 vs. 81.7%).The opposite views were expressed by the parents that long screen me undermines societal values (66.7 vs. 15.7%,P<0.001).

Conclusion:
Although there were differences between the percep ons of parents and adolescents, IBE was favoured in many instances such as pain ng/drawing skills, ge ng updated informa on, school performance, social skills, and community networking.

BRIEF ARTICLE
formula with a 5% significance level and 8% error margin, which was 147.We invited 140 adolescents and their parents for interviews.All adolescents but 60 parents participated in the interview in the school premises after getting parents' consent and adolescents' assent.

Data collection
A pretested questionnaire was used to gather information on the adolescents' internet usage patterns, including their attachment to IBE, hours spent online, usage locations, devices used, and visits to formal educational websites.The questions included: (1) physical effects of internet use such as headache, negative impacts on vision, altered sleep habits, and backache; (2) psychological effects assessing engagement in activities like painting, and indoor physical exercises, academic performance, social expression, leadership, motivation, discipline; and (3) social effects like a building of global networks, participating in community volunteer work, and adherence to societal values.

Statistical analysis
The statistical analysis was done using the Statistical Package of Social Sciences, version 26.Data were presented using frequency and percents.The chi-square test was used to examine the differences between adolescents and parents.A P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS
The adolescents and their parents were 15 years and 42 years old on average, in respective order.Seven in 10 adolescents and eight in 10 parents were females.Most of the parents had postgraduate-level education, and half were employed.About three-quarters of adolescents (78.6%) and half of the parents (55.0%) use IBE sites daily for 2 hours or less.The commonly used sites were Zoom (73.3% parents and 87.9% adolescents), followed by Google Classroom (55.0%parents and 36.4% adolescents)

(TABLE 1).
A   The current study found that parents were more concerned than adolescents about potential impacts on loss of motivation and self-discipline.This has the potential to change the adolescent's behavior unfavorably, unlike a study from Brunei. 12The UK and Indonesian studies show a preference for digital over paper-based reading despite a prevalent skimming habit online knowing that adolescents' rudeness may have some link with screen time [11][12][13][14] .Many people might have counted on the benefits of extracurricular activities. 4,15 ly evidence suggests that online time displaces productive activities and face-to-face interactions, and harmful online expressions can erode social values.

Conclusion
The adolescents and their parents believe thar there are harmful impacts of IBE.These are headache, sleep disruption, backache, loss of self-discipline, etc.
Nonetheless, they (participants) believe that IBE has many favourable impacts too.These are painting/ drawing skills, getting updated information, school performance, leadership quality, social skills, and community networking.Further research is needed for elucidating factors specific to Bangladesh and children in general, given that our data lack generalizability.

Table 2 Perception about the physical, psychological and social effects of internet-based education, number (%) Effects of internet-based education Parents (n= 60)
Second, a big non-response rate among the parents might have impacted our results.Third, we use a relatively large error rate (that has led to a small sample size) in our sample calculation considering the time and resources available.