Internet Use among University Students in Iringa Region, Tanzania: Trends, Threats and Mitigation

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of internet on university students` moral development in three universities in Iringa region-Tanzania. The study used convergent parallel mixed method design which is both qualitative and quantitative in nature. The researcher applied Moral development Theory by Lawrence Kohlberg in 1958. The sample size was 145 participants comprising of 120 students, 13 lecturers and 12 librarians. Data were collected using questionnaire and interview schedules. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data were organized into themes and narratives from respondents. The findings showed that internet use was highly prevalent among University students in Iringa with 74% of the respondents reporting daily use. The highest content accessed was related to academics followed by romance most of which was accessed at night. The findings further identified plagiarism as a major vice fuelled by internet use. Major mitigation strategies against negative influence of internet identified included strong password adoption, counselling interventions, internet control policy and introduction of policy penalty codes.