Online Trends Among College Youth

Daman Deep Kaur Gulati, Seema Yadav and Pooja Sharma

The Bhopal School of Social Sciences,Indi

Keywords: Online Trends, College, Youth, Boys, Girls.

Abstract: The aim of this research was to know the online trends among the college youth. The random sampling method

was applied to collect the data from 400 graduate level students of Bhopal city in India. Self-developed

questionnaire was used for this purpose. The reliability of the tool was tested and the Cronbach’s α score was

0.785. The data obtained was analysed on Jamovi 2.2.5. The results of the study showed that girls have higher

inclination for the online coaching. Both boys and girls prefer e-text books, e-books, online recorded videos,

online shopping, social networking websites, online web series, online movies and online songs. Boys prefer

to read e-newspapers and girls sometimes read e-newspaper. Some boys have inclination for playing action

games and are more interested to play the fantasy games. Most of the boys prefer online payment. The college

youth do not prefer porn and gambling websites. The college youth spent 31% of the time for educational

purpose, 30 % for entertainment ,25 % for social networking and 14 % for other utility.

1 INTRODUCTION

There were 658.0 million internet users in India in

January 2022 (Kemp, 2022).The college youth is

using the internet for various purposes. The usage

starts with connecting to the friends through online

chatting applications. They also like to watch the

videos of their subject teachers for understanding the

concept. There is a long list of internet usage. The

online trends of college youth are diverse. The online

applications are used for education, entertainment,

games, shopping and doing payment. (Agarwal et al.,

2021) suggested that students prefer online education

even after covid-19 if institutes focus on satisfying

the needs of students. In urban cities students prefer

online coaching. The coaches can provide online

guidance to the students. The dependence is

increasing because of easy availability of internet,

high speed of internet and it reduces the fuel

expenses. The urban city is also facing the issues of

high concentration of vehicles on the road. The

situation of traffic jam is getting very common. The

other trend which is pitching nowadays is related to

reading of e-text books, e-books and e- newspapers.

It is very easy to enlarge the content on the screen and

read with ease. The college youth is crazy for online

games. Online platform is filled with humongous

games. There are some games for increasing mental

abilities in the students like sudoku and chess. The

traditional outdoor sports like cricket, football,

hockey and badminton are available online. In this

the participants can choose the player of their choice

and win the game with some monetary benefits.

These are also popularly known as fantasy games.

Action games with multiple players are also capturing

the mind of the Gen Z. This generation in their leisure

hours watch the online web series, movies and use

online apps like Wynk music and Spotify to listen

favourite play list. E-commerce has made the

shopping at your fingertips. Youngsters browse their

favourite brands online, order it and prefer to do

online payment. The online banking apps , Paytm,

Google pay and PhonePe helps in making quick

payments anywhere and at any time. This online

world is flooded with educational websites, social

networking sites, gaming websites, payment

applications but also with porn and gambling

websites. Unethical content can be easily viewed by

the youth on the porn sites. Gambling sites are

lucrative and college youth get carried away with the

idea of making quick money. (Chaudhari et al.,2015)

explored that male medical students who were doing

high expenditure on internet, staying online for longer

duration, using internet for social networking, online

videos and watching sexual content on websites are

significantly associated with internet addiction. The

companies are minting money with the increase in the

consumers. This online usage of internet has some

678

Gulati, D., Yadav, S. and Sharma, P.

Online Trends Among College Youth.

DOI: 10.5220/0012501000003792

Paper published under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

In Proceedings of the 1st Pamir Transboundary Conference for Sustainable Societies (PAMIR 2023), pages 678-683

ISBN: 978-989-758-687-3

adverse effects on the youth. (Balhara et al. 2018)

reported that problem internet users suffered from

insomnia, daytime sleepiness and eye strain. The

dependency on internet has been increased widely.

There is a shift in the habit of youth as they prefer

online platform over offline. Some youngsters are

aware of the consequences of problematic internet

use. As there are various awareness programs getting

conducted at school level. It is essential to know the

current online trends among the college youth. This

will help in designing the healthy digital plan for the

Indian youth. The Indian government regulatory

bodies can also guide the youngsters for healthy use

of technology.(Gopal et al., 2021) investigated that

quality of instructor, course design, prompt feedback,

and expectation of students has a positive impact on

students’ satisfaction. In addition to this, student’s

satisfaction has positive impact on students’

performance.(Mutalib et al., 2012) suggested a

framework for e-Book which can support students

in the learning process.(Merkle et al. 2022) found that

e-books moderate the relationship between textbook

effectiveness and academic performance

engagement. Highly effective e-books result in higher

levels of academic performance

engagement. Businesswire(February 26, 2021 )

reported that consumers prefer e-books over other

books. There is less preference for other books as they

are more fragile , need more care and its high cost.

The usage of smartphones and e-books with

multilingual features will increase the demand for e-

books.The saving trees campaigns and environment

protection awareness program by government is also

boosting the growth of e-books.(Dhawan,2022)

mentioned that after the lockdown there has been a

15-20% increase in people seeking treatment for

gambling addiction. Most of the people began this as

an entertainment and get trapped into it.

2 OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the study are to know the trend of -

1.online coaching ,2.reading e-text books related to

their subjects ,3.reading fiction / non-fiction e-books

,4.watching online videos for their subjects ,5.reading

e-newspaper ,6.playing online mind games

,7.playing online action games ,8.playing fantasy

sports like cricket, hockey, badminton,etc.9.

watching online movies ,10. watching online web

series,11. using online apps for listening songs

,12.using social networking websites, 13.online

payment , 14.online shopping,15. visiting porn

websites and 16.visiting online gambling websites in

boys and girls. Also, to know the online time

utilization for academic, entertainment, utility and

social networking by college youth

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The research was conducted on 400 graduate

students’ of a private college in Bhopal, India. The

random sampling method was used to collect the

sample. The data was collected by self-developed

questionnaire. The first part was based on five-point

scale of never, rarely, sometimes, often and always

and the other was descriptive section with open ended

questions. The reliability of the questionnaire was

tested. The Cronbach's α is 0.785. The google form

was used to collect the responses of students from

different streams in the month of July 2022. The

responses were received from 200 boys and 200 girls.

The age group of students was from 17 years to 21

years. The data was analysed by jamovi 2.2.5.

4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results of the study are discussed objective wise.

The first objective was to know the trend of online

coaching in boys and girls. Table 1 shows that both

boys and girls prefer online coaching. Girls have

higher inclination for the online mode of learning. It

is safe, saves the travelling cost and students can do

hassle-free studies from the convenient places.

(Howlett et al., 2021) found that increase in

metacognitive awareness happened in-person

academic coaching as well as online academic

coaching conditions.The second objective was to

know the trend of reading e-text books related to their

subjects in boys and girls. Table1 shows that both

boys and girls prefer reading from e-text books. It is

easy to search relevant content from these books.

(Shepperd et al., 2008 as cited in Ma et al.2022)

found that in comparison to the traditional textbooks

the electronic books are available at lower price,

offers more interaction, easy access ,occupies less

space and more movable.The third objective was to

know the trend of reading fiction / non-fiction e-

books in boys and girls. Table 1 shows that girls and

boys both likes to read e-books apart from their

regular subject related text books. They can read

anytime and there is no fear to lose the book.

Online Trends Among College Youth

679

Table 1: Frequencies of online trends in boys and girls of college.

Objectives Gender Never Rarely Sometime

Often Always

1.Online Coaching Boys 43 27 49 35 46

Girls 37 20 46 28 69

2.e-text Books Boys 16 17 51 70 46

Girls 3 9 80 66 42

3.e-books Boys 37 21 51 49 42

Girls 19 38 73 29 41

4.Online Video Lectures Boys 12 2 55 63 68

Girls 6 5 57 63 69

5.e-newspaper Boys 20 33 48 38 61

Girls 17 37 81 39 26

6.Online Mind Games Boys 34 42 51 38 35

Girls 32 34 75 44 15

7.Online Action Games Boys 84 24 42 21 29

Girls 150 18 18 7 7

8.Fantasy Games Boys 36 11 57 35 61

Girls 68 21 53 23 35

9.Online Movies Boys 8 25 41 46 80

Girls 2 21 60 51 66

10.Web Series Boys 18 19 37 55 71

Girls 14 29 48 42 67

11.Songs Apps Boys 12 11 30 28 119

Girls 0 4 29 28 139

12.Social Networking Websites Boys 8 16 36 42 98

Girls 13 6 22 52 107

13.Online Payment Boys 12 10 26 25 127

Girls 19 12 30 60 79

14.Online Shopping Boys 14 16 45 45 80

Girls 14 9 47 51 79

15.Porn Websites Boys 113 46 31 6 4

Girls 174 14 9 3 0

16.Gambling Websites Boys 168 6 18 0 8

Girls 180 6 8 4 2

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The fourth objective was to know the trend of

watching online video lectures for their subjects in

boys and girls. Table 1 shows that both boys and

girls prefer to watch online recorded videos. It helps

to reiterate the concept in the mind of the students. It

is easy to revise the concept during exam.The fifth

objective was to know the trend of reading e-

newspaper in boys and girls. Table 1 shows that boys

prefer to read e-newspapers and girls sometimes read

e-newspaper. The college going students are

occupied with their regular studies but they keep

themselves updated by reading newspapers.The

sixth objective was to know the trend of playing

online mind games to improve mental ability in boys

and girls. Table 1 shows that boys and girls

sometimes like to play mekorama, sudoku, chess,

complete the picture, and cross word puzzles.

(Yazici & Kumcagiz, 2021) concluded on the basis

of several researches that online games are effective

in enhancing students’ academic outcome and

motivation.The seventh objective was to know the

trend of playing action games in boys and girls.

Table 1 shows that some boys have inclination for

playing action games. The most popular among the

youth are Call of duty: modern warfare 3, GTA 5,

Battle grounds mobile India, Apex legends,Valorant

and Pubg. Multiple players can play online together

and it gives great virtual experience ,sense of

achievement and pleasure to the gamers. (Yazici &

Kumcagiz, 2021) revealed that increase in use of

problematic online games resulted in increased level

of depression and decrease in the life satisfaction

levels in the university students. The eighth

objective was to know the trend of playing outdoor

games on online platform. Table 1 shows that boys

are more interested to play the fantasy games like

cricket, football, hockey and badminton. Students

play during the lunch breaks in the college and after

the college hours in their free time. They like to play

in the virtual platform to enjoy the real games.The

ninth objective was to know the trend of watching

online movies in boys and girls. Table 1 shows that

both boys and girls prefer watching online movies.

The popular platforms are Netflix, Prime video,

Hotstar and Voot.The tenth objective was to know

the trend of watching online web series in boys and

girls. Table 1 shows that both boys and girls prefer

to watch online web series. They enjoy the strong

story and content. They like the ease of watching

them at any time.The eleventh objective was to know

the trend of using online apps for listening songs in

boys and girls. Table 1 shows that both boys and girls

like to listen songs on online apps like

JioSaavn,Wynk,Spotify,Youtube and Gaana.The

twelfth objective was to know the trends of using

social networking websites in boys and girls. Table 1

shows that both the boys and girls prefer online

platform to interact with friends and families. They

like to share photos and important information on

Facebook, Instagram, Whatsapp and Snapchat. The

college has created official class groups on Whatsapp

which is used to share class-related information, study

material, exchange of greetings on festivals and

birthdays. (Faizi & El Fkihi, 2018) higher education

students in Morocco used the Facebook to access

learning materials, homework assignments ,class-

related information and discuss topics with other

friends . (Gonulal, 2019) found that Instagram has the

potential to support English Language Learners in

improving vocabulary, communication and language

skills. The thirteenth objective was to know the trend

of doing online payments. Table 1 shows that the most

of the boys prefer online payment through Google Pay,

Phone pe,Paytm, Bhim UPI, Yono SBI and Amazon

pay. These are used to pay the expenses related to the

food , travel, fees, insurance, rent, electricity ,data

recharge and shopping.

The fourteenth objective was related to know the trend

of online shopping in boys and girls. Table 1 shows

that both the boys and girls like to do online shopping.

The popular platforms are

Amazon,Flipkart,Myntra,Meesho, urbanic, ajio,

houseofindya and Nyka.The fifteenth objective was to

know the trend of visiting porn websites in boys and

girls. Table 1 shows that boys and girls do not prefer

to watch porn content and rarely they visited these

websites. They have a good control on themselves.The

sixteenth objective was to know the trend of visiting

gambling websites. Table 1 shows that both boys and

girls do not prefer to involve in gambling activities.

They believe that these are unethical practices.

Online Trends Among College Youth

681

Figure 1: Online Time Utilization

The seventeenth objective was to know the online

time utilization for academic, entertainment, utility

and social networking by the students. It was found

that students spent maximum time for educational

purpose. It includes online coaching, reading e-text

books ,e-newspapers, watching recorded lectures,

and playing mind games online. After this they spent

time for entertainment. It includes reading e-books,

watching online movies, porn scenes, web series,

listening songs, playing action and fantasy games.

After this they spent time on social networking to

chat with their friends and families. Lastly, they

spent time on utility purpose. It includes doing

online payments and online shopping.

5 CONCLUSION

The college youth is involved in multiple online

activities. Internet has made the life easy and

comfortable. Girls prefer online-coaching. Both

boys and girls prefer reading e-text books and e-

books. They also like to watch online recorded

videos, movies, web series and listening songs on

online applications. Boys prefer to read e-

newspapers and girls sometimes read e-newspaper.

Sometimes they like to play online mind-games.

Some boys play online action games and outdoor

games on online platform. There is a greater

inclination towards social networking in the college

youth. They both prefer to do online shopping and

boys prefer payment through online modes. There is

a less craze for visiting porn and gambling web sites

.They spent 31% of the time for educational purpose,

30 % for entertainment ,25 % for social networking

and 14 % for other utility .

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