A Survey of the Influence of Internet Utilization on the Reading Habits of Undergraduate Students in Anambra State

This work surveys the influence of internet utilization on the reading habits of undergraduate students in Anambra State. The population for this study was fourth year undergraduate students of the two public universities in Anambra State, representing urban and rural locations. Two hundred randomly selected male and female respondents form the sample. A well-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Four research questions and two hypotheses were raised to guide the study. Research questions were answered with simple percentages while hypotheses were tested with chi-square. The study revealed that the most prevalent positive influence of the Internet on the reading habits of the respondents in the urban area was reading to locate information (98%) while the respondents in the rural area indicated that the two negative influences of the Internet on their reading habits were distractions from online social activities (97%) and exposure to illicit acts (58%). The study further revealed that there was no significant difference in the views of urban and rural undergraduate students on the positive influence of internet utilization on reading habits. This was shown as 3 out of 5 items had p-value greater than the stipulated 0.05 level significance. Also there was no significant difference in the negative influence as all the 4 items had p-value greater than the stipulated 0.05 level of significance. The study therefore recommends among others the need for students to balance their internet utilization between social and academic uses, which will enable them to be self-directed, self-paced and life-long readers.