Late nights online exhaust students

Students have online access in their bedrooms

University students are performing badly because they have been spending too long on the internet, claims a survey.

According to researchers in the United States, late night sessions using the internet are leaving students too tired for their studies the next day.

The study at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, claimed that about 10% to 15% of students were "not in complete control" of their internet use.

These included students who were staying online so long at night, e-mailing or using chatrooms, that they missed out on sleep and failed to make classes the next day.

The survey found that first year students were most likely to be affected by this problem of over-use of the internet.

E-mailing home

This was believed to be because these students were away from their family home for the first time - and without parental controls were still adjusting to imposing their own limits.

These first year students were also found to be using the internet and e-mail to keep in touch with friends from their high schools - and had yet to develop friends in their new colleges.

The survey noted that many universities now prided themselves in providing internet access in student accommodation, which made it very easy for students to stay online in their own bedrooms.

But that this also meant that university health and counselling services were now having to pay attention to problems associated with the over-use of the internet.