Case study in Russia: the views of parents on schoolchildren's cyber addiction in the course of online learning

Short summary Summing up the results of the study, an effective approach for the prevention and solution of the problem of Internet addiction among students during the period of online learning based on cognitive-behavioral therapy was proposed. The approach involves two phases, which are a gradual reduction of the time children spend on the Internet and the replacement of problematic behavior with other alternatives. Future research could consider in detail the factors that contribute to the formation of computer addiction in schoolchildren during online learning, interview students of different ages, and expand the sample. Not only children but also adults now spend much more time in front of the screen (computers, laptops, tablets, phones, TVs, Play Station, other game consoles, etc.) for various reasons: work, study, a lot of free time, communication, entertainment, information retrieval. The aim of this paper is to examine how the time spent in front of the screen at school influence the developing of computer addiction in primary schoolchildren. The development of Internet addiction has negative educational (deterioration of academic performance), medical (reduced mental health, decreased general stress-resistance, risk of depression), and social consequences (reduced quality and quantity of social contacts). The respondents were 120 parents and 120 secondary school students of one of the schools in Moscow. The participants were asked to answer 9 multiple-choice questions. To assess the level of Internet addiction of schoolchildren, the Internet Addiction Test created by K. Young and modified by V.A. Loskutova (Burova) was used. As a result, 69% of the parents surveyed noted that their children spend more than four hours a day on online learning. Proposed approach consists of two stages, which are a gradual reduction of the time children spend on the Internet and the replacement of problematic behavior with other alternatives. The research results provide the knowledge to prevent cyber addiction in schoolchildren and the incentive for further research.

Automated summary

The study proposes an effective approach based on cognitive-behavioral therapy to prevent and solve the problem of internet addiction among students during online learning. The approach consists of two phases, gradually reducing internet usage time and replacing problematic behavior with alternatives. Future research can focus on identifying factors contributing to computer addiction in schoolchildren during online learning, interviewing students of different ages, and expanding the sample size. This paper examines how screen time at school influences the development of computer addiction in primary schoolchildren.