Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

Students increasingly depending on Internet A survey reports 42% of students use it most often to communicate BY LYDIA K. LEUNG MICHIGAN DAILY (l\ MICHIGAN) ANN ARBOR, MICH. - The Internet has be come an essential component of college life, both for communication and academic pur poses, according to a recent survey done by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The survey of 2,054 college students na tionwide found that 42 percent of students use the Internet most often to communicate so cially. In addition, 95 percent of students surveyed said they use e-mail for social communication at least once a week while 21 percent of them said they send social related e-mails at least once a day. L.SA sopnomore iNicoie vannesie, wnu checks her e-mail a couple of times a day, said she uses e-mail over 75 percent of the time for communicating with friends. "My cell phone bill went up once when I couldn't get Internet access for two weeks," Vanneste said. The most commonly used Internet com munication tool by students who responded to the survey is e-mail, followed by instant messaging, which accounts for 62 percent and 29 percent of the students, respectively. In addition to using the Internet for social purposes, the study also found many students turning to the Internet to help with work for their classes. The survey found that 73 percent of the stu dents use Internet more than the library for searching for information while only 9 per cent of the students do the opposite. "The library is overwhelming," said LSA Byrd CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 That breakdown of Emerson’s words by one of my contemporaries, I think, best char acterizes college. Here we are, preparing for life, growing in anticipation of the future. The concept itself is inspiring, especially once we get over that initial shock: “Dear God, I don’t know any of these people, and I have to feed myself!” After all, we are here so that we can find out just what is truth and what is good. Be cause life is changing, and I have a feeling that it’s going to be bigger than ashtrays. Byrd is a first-year print journalism student. freshmen Alex Leb, who said he prefers doing his research at home on the Internet because he can have more personal space there and thinks it is more controllable. Due to the convenience and availability of information on the internet, the library is no longer the only place for searching for differ ent kinds of information, which is the main cause for the switch in research habits, stu dent said. "Going online is much simpler," first-year Dental student Scott Behnan said. He added that using search engines such as Google and Yahoo is better than going to the li brary because of its convenience. The Internet also acts as a bridge for stu dents and professors to communicate. Seventy-seven percent of the students who participated in the survey said they have used e-mail to ask their professors questions about an assignment. LSA junior Jamie Babin said the Internet is a good way for students and professors to com municate and it facilitates interactive learn ing. me 1001 is easy 10 learn ana use, sne said. In addition to e-mail, Babin said the Coursetools Web site, which allows profes sors to post class materials on the Internet, has also made learning an easier and faster process. Engaging in classwork online, in sites like Coursetools accounted for 38 percent of stu dent usage, the second highest use in the sur vey. The survey also found that the use of In ternet is higher among college students than the general population, 86 percent versus 59 percent. The differences are mainly due to heavier usage for downloading music files, instant messaging and online chatting among col lege students, the survey stated. Got something to say? Send a letter to the editor to gamecockviewpoints@ hotmail.com. Got a hot news tip? E mail gamecockudesk@ hotmail.com or call the newsroom at 777-7726. Young. Fun. Affordable. k Seven Jeans, Trina Turk, BCBG, Tibi, Catherine Malandrino, Trish McEvoy cosmetics and much, much more.