1. School of Architecture, Building and Design
Foundation in Natural and Built Environment
Name: Madeline Liew Zhi Qi
Student ID: 0322150
Module: English 1 (ELG 30505)
Session: January 2015
Lecturer: Thivilojana Perinpasingam
Question No: 1
Submission Date: 28 April 2015
2. Prewriting:
Effects of excessive computer usage (listing)
emotional issue
physical issue
social issue
lack of face to face social interaction
spend more time on computer
not attending gatherings and meeting
isolate themselves
cause injuries
backache, weight gain or loss, headaches, blurred vision
shoulder pain, neck pain
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
long time sitting in front of computer
long term sleep deprivation cause drowsiness
death after gaming for 3 days
cannot concentrate
wrong sitting posture
guilty because did not finish their task
depression due to inability to attain achievement
lose their occupation
face stress
avoid responsibility
constant gaming
not exercising
lack of desire to create relationship
3. lose their social skills
violence games will give wrong moral value
relationship become distant
not able to perform daily life responsibility
4. Effects of excessive computer usage
In this modern society, computer has become one of the most important element in
our life. It is used widely as a handy tool for us to perform our daily tasks. For instance,
researching for assignments, checking weather and recent news and connecting with
friends and family through social medias. Instead of using the computer wisely, some
people tend to spend long period of time on computer performing unnecessary stuffs and
wasting their time. This results in excessive computer usage and may cause many
devastating issues ranging from physical, social and emotional issues to an individual.
As a result of excessive computer usage, an individual may encounter physical
problems. Most of the computer user have incorrect sitting posture and lead to back pain,
shoulder pain and even neck pain. If the situation get worse, they have the chance of
getting headaches, blurred vision and even Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. They will not have
enough sleep and result in insomnia because they are willing to spend more time gaming
and immerse in the virtual world. In the worst situation, excessive computer usage might
lead to death. For example, the case happen recently in January 2015 that a man dies in
Taiwan after 3-day online gaming marathon according to Hunt, K., CNN and Ng, N.(2015).
In addition, long term sleep deprivation will cause drowsiness, difficult to concentrate, a
breakdown of the immune system and unable to perform daily task well. According to
Grabianowski, Ed. (2007), those who spend lots of hours at a computer is not doing any
exercise which indirectly lead to awful overall physical condition and even obesity. One last
effect is the deficiency to perform personal hygiene matter, such as bathing and brushing
teeth. This clearly shows that excessive computer usage will damage an individual in
terms of physical problems.
5. Another critical effect of excessive computer usage can be seen from the social
aspect. Firstly, these computer users will lack of face to face social interaction with other
individual and they tend to isolate themselves. The amount of time spent online is far more
than socialising with others because they felt that socialising is unnecessary. At the same
time, they will lose the desire to communicate with other people, meaning that they lack
the desire to create new relationships and building on existing relationships. As a result,
relationship between him and others will begin to distant as they do not attend gatherings
and meetings in order to get more time to play computer games as suggested by
Grabianowski, Ed. (2007). Even it is arguably that nowadays online games provide for
instantaneous communication between the users while playing the game, it will not in any
way strengthen the individual’s social skills. Thus, after a period of time, they will totally
lose their social skills. Further, some violence computer games such as Counter Strike will
give them a false interpretation of moral value and lead to increased aggression and
violence as they will try to imitate the behaviour of the game character. Apparently, in
concluding the above arguments, excessive usage of computer can lead to devastating
social effects and cause harm to our society.
In addition, excessive computer usage can cause an individual to suffer emotional
issues. When they are face with stress arising from work, they tend to play computer
games to temporary distract themselves from these problems. As a result, they will not
able to perform their daily life responsibility. In the meantime, they will feel guilty as
suggested by Psychguides.com. (n.d.) because they did not finish their tasks but still
continue to use computer to avoid responsibility and thus causing further emotional harm.
Further, computer user may feel depressed after constant gaming due to the inability to
attain certain achievement such as constantly being defeated by the opponent. This
condition will be worsen if they continue to use computer and do not come back to the
6. reality and face their daily tasks. They may also lose their occupation as they could not
arrange time according to their own schedule. Serious effects may even lead to suicide as
they had been consumed in the virtual world.
In a nutshell, excessive computer usage can lead to physical, social and emotional
problem to an individual. We should use computer wisely and plan our time accordingly to
avoid these problems. It is advisable that these problems should be treated as soon as
possible as it can bring serious harm to the society. In my opinion, parents should play a
big role in supervising the usage of computer of their children and one must be discipline
to avoid excessive usage of computer.
(772 words)
7. References:
Grabianowski, Ed. (October 16, 2007). How computer addiction works. Retrieved 18 April
2015 from HowStuffWorks.com website: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/
basics/computer-addiction2.htm
Hunt, K., CNN and Ng, N. . (January 19, 2015). Man dies in Taiwan after 3-day online
gaming binge. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/19/world/taiwan-gamer-
death/
Psychguides.com. (n.d.). Computer/Internet addiction symptoms, causes and effects.
Retrieved 19 April 2015 from http://www.psychguides.com/guides/computerinternet-
addiction-symptoms-causes-and-effects/
Saisan, J., Smith, M., Robinson, L., & Segal, J. (April 2015). Internet and computer
addiction. Retrieved 20 April 2015 from http://www.helpguide.org/articles/addiction/internet-
and-computer-addiction.htm
