London: Internet-addicted students would rather give up coffee, eating and sex than their smartphones, a new UK research has found.
Nearly a fifth of the students surveyed spend more than five hours online daily, researchers found.
Almost half (44 per cent) use mobile devices to take notes in lectures, while seven in 10 use them to access university emails, they found. Nearly a fifth of the 1,500 students surveyed by Aruba Networks spend over five hours a day online, and 65 per cent own three or more connected devices, ‘The Telegraph’ reported.
About half of the students surveyed even said they preferred to work “outside of normal school hours,” stating they worked more efficiently.
“We polled the students to find out where they want access to university services. It turns out that’s in cafes and pubs,” said Jon Holgate, Head of Networks at Cambridge University.
Researchers said several universities are trialing new online services and making sure that the morning lectures are not missed, by providing live interactive lecture theatres accessible from wherever the student is.
Many are also using social media to build closer relationships with students, sometimes developing their own social networking sites, the report said. “No one had thought about extending the university network beyond our physical fibre and providing it as a service,” Holgate said.
