Relationship of Internet Usage and Sociodemographic Profile of Selected Saudi College Students

Abstract

Internet has been the source of countless opportunities for personal fulfillment, professional development and value creation. It has become a vital necessity for working, learning, accessing basic service and keeping in-touch. In the last decades, young adults, mostly students, has remained the most likely to go online.  In this quantitative research that employed the descriptive-correlational method, it examined the relationship of Internet usage and sociodemographic of selected Saudi college students. 356 students from various programs were the respondents of the study.  Self-administered survey questionnaire was used as data-gathering instrument. Descriptive and correlational statistics were utilized for data analysis. The findings revealed that there is a rising moderate usage level among the respondents.  Contributing factors are increasing internet coverage, access to gadgets, popularity of social media applications, and gratification offered by internet surfing. Sociodemographic variables – age, course, year-level, and living arrangement - are not associated with internet usage, except for accessibility to internet and academic performance. Accessibility to internet and internet usage indicated a very small negative relationship. There is a strong positive relationship between internet usage and academic performance.  As the respondents’ internet usage is increasing it positively affects their academic performance provided that internet is being used for academic and social related activities.