The 
 

   

Impact of 
Internet 
Usage on 
the Health 
and Social 
Life of 
Canadians 
Understanding
Communications

By Lawrence Okechukwu
Emeagwali  
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Introduction
The rising influence of information technology on both the global economic and

social environments can be observed very clearly today. According to a November

10, 2006 review article by Ben Veenhof, published in “The Daily”: Our Lives in Digital

Times; the evident effect of the use of information and communication technologies

(ICTs) is based on “shifting behavioral patterns, including communication and

spending”. The article further revealed that more and more people are

communicating via mobile phones and electronic mail now than was the case in the

past. It noted not only an increase in communication, but also increases and

broadening of associations, not only within the confines of their immediate

environment but also beyond their communities, to different communities of their

choice; as well as an increase in IT related spending especially in monthly and

annual internet subscriptions.

This increase in ICT usage globally, is also reflected in Canadian societies as well;

and as more and more Canadians embrace the use of ICT especially internet based

ICT, it becomes imperative to understand the perceived impact of this phenomenon

on the social life and health of its populace.

Research Question

It’s in light of the afore mentioned , that I intend to investigate this phenomenon in

the body of this research work, by posing and trying to find answers to the following

research question: “What is the Perceived impact of internet usage on the social

life and health of Canadians?”

Lawrence O. Emeagwali     lawrenceemeagwali@gau.edu.tr  http://strategy‐lawrence.blogspot.com 
 
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The Internet and Canadian Social Life

On the impact of internet usage on the social life of Canadians, I rely mostly on the

work of Veenhof, B; Wellman, B.; Quell, C.; and Hogan, B.; (2008) in their work titled:

How Canadian Use of the Internet Affects Social life and Civic Participation and

published in the Connectedness’ Series of the Statistics Canada publications. They

tried to study whether Canadians are getting more detached, isolated and reclusive

as more and more of them use the internet. Veenhof et al (2008) also studied the

impact of the internet on the integration of Canadians into their communities, as well

the recent structure of these communities as opposed to the traditional structure

obtained in the past, due to the impact of internet usage. Veenhof et al (2008)’s work

sought to find answers to the above questions by examining survey findings from

primary research originally carried out by statistics Canada and the Connected lives

project in order to discover the role of the internet on Canada’s social life and it’s

inherent potential to increase the activeness of the Canadian Citizen. Findings from

this research work will be stated in the findings section of this research work, on

page.

Secondly, on the impact of internet usage on the health of Canadians, I also rely on

the work carried out by Veenhof, B. (2006) titled: The Internet: Is it changing the way

Canadians spend their time? The report which was also published by Statistics

Canada, was based on a 2005 time use data collected in its General Social Survey

(GSS). I relied mostly on the sections of this report which examined internet use, and

the perceived health and happiness of Canadian users as well as their perceptions

of time spent on the internet and its relationship to their individual stress levels.

Findings from the examination of these research works, will also be presented in the

findings section, on the next page.

Lawrence O. Emeagwali     lawrenceemeagwali@gau.edu.tr  http://strategy‐lawrence.blogspot.com 
 
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Research Findings

Having investigated the work by Veenhof et al (2008), I found regarding the impact of

internet usage on the social life of Canadians; that the Canadian populace who are

actively engaged in the use of the internet are not any less social than non-users.

They found that although these Canadians, tend to spend less person-person

physical time with their friends and families, they belong to very large networks and

communities and engage in frequent online interaction and communication with their

family and friends. Table 1 of the report (see appendix 1) shows the average time

Canadians spend on person to person contact with others among internet users and

non-users as at 2005.

Veenhof et al (2008) also noted that quite a good number of active internet users

among the Canadian populace are also socio-politically active and use their large

networks as a means of mobilizing likeminded individuals for sociopolitical and

humanitarian activities. Table 6 (see appendix 5)

A more detailed examination of Veenhof et al (2008)’s work also revealed that at the

socio-demographic level, high social networks and interactions involve new

immigrants into Canada, who see the internet as a vital means of staying in touch

with their family and friends living in their original home countries as well as a tool for

integrating into their new environment. The study reveals that rural Canadians also

engage in the use of the internet to stay in touch with family and friends who have

moved abroad or outside their immediate communities in search of better

opportunities.

Lawrence O. Emeagwali     lawrenceemeagwali@gau.edu.tr  http://strategy‐lawrence.blogspot.com 
 
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Finally, Veenhof et al (2008)’s research work reveals that the internet plays a

transformational role in the Canadian community, and societies as well as in the

transformation of social capital. It revealed that Canadian communities, now

transcend local neighborhoods as both young and old Canadians are now actively

involved in the usage of the internet not only to socialize with family and friends, but

also for personal recreation and leisure; for example playing games, watching

movies, and listening to music. It concludes that the internet has become a vital

social instrument in the social life and environment of the Canadian society.

Having examined the impact of internet usage on the health of Canadians, relying on

the work of Veenhof, (2006); I found out that although this work based on a GSS

survey by Statistics Canada, had different responses on the perception of how

internet usage affected the health of the individuals who took the survey; it was

discovered that internet usage had no relationship with the health level of the

respondents. This is because health depends on other factors such as the age of

the respondents, their historic or hereditary health conditions and other such factors.

However, in response to the survey questions, Veenhof, (2006) noted that 10.7% of

moderate internet users reported a perception of fair or poor health due to internet

usage, as opposed to 14.5% of non-internet users who reported fair or poor health

conditions. As can be observed by these figures therefore, there is no relationship

between internet usage and health levels.

However, the overall stress level of the respondents were studied in the same GSS

survey and a shown in Table 8 (see appendix 7) and Veenhof, (2006) found that

there was a relationship between the time Canadians spent on the internet and their

perceived stress levels. From the table, it was generally observed that non- internet

Lawrence O. Emeagwali     lawrenceemeagwali@gau.edu.tr  http://strategy‐lawrence.blogspot.com 
 
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users generally felt that they had little time for relaxation and had high need for more

free time. However, heavy internet users appeared less stressed and did not

consider themselves as workaholics or over working themselves. Neither did they

feel they had to hurry through their daily activities.

Like their perception of the relationship between internet usage and health, Veenhof,

(2006) also noted that the perception of stress among Canadian internet users also

depended to an extent on the age and other socio-demographic factors. What was

sure was that both moderate and heavy internet users had common characteristics

of spending slightly less time sleeping during the day.

Lawrence O. Emeagwali     lawrenceemeagwali@gau.edu.tr  http://strategy‐lawrence.blogspot.com 
 
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Conclusions
From the research findings, I came to the conclusion that the internet is currently a

driving force in the enhancement of the social culture of Canada. True, it may have

changed the way in which Canadians socialize as well as the structure of their

accessible communities, however, going by the research works examined, it has to

say the least enhanced and enlarged the social frontiers of Canadians. Although

young adults have embraced and participated very well in online social

environments, the internet based socialization and social networks have not been

limited to the young alone as Canadians of every age group and creed have found it

to contain communication channels of particular interest to them. The internet has

further enabled the speedy socio political as well as humanitarian mobilizations due

to real time communication among Canadians in different online and physical

communities. Thus to answer the question on how the internet has impacted the

social life of Canadians, I conclude that it is deeply woven into the Canadian social

environment and has enhanced the social life of Canadians on the broader view.

On the part of the research question which addresses the impact of internet usage o

the health of Canadians. I conclude that there is very little direct relationship between

the health of Canadians and the use of the internet as this is dependent on other

important factors. However there may be a strong relationship between internet

usage and stress levels. However it is clear that internet usage affects the amount of

sleep both moderate and heavy internet using Canadians get every day; and since

Lawrence O. Emeagwali     lawrenceemeagwali@gau.edu.tr  http://strategy‐lawrence.blogspot.com 
 
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amount of sleep has a relationship with stress levels, we can say that there is

definitely an indirect impact of internet usage on the stress levels of Canadians.

Lawrence O. Emeagwali     lawrenceemeagwali@gau.edu.tr  http://strategy‐lawrence.blogspot.com 
 
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References
Veenhof, B; Wellman, B.; Quell, C.; and Hogan, B.; (2008). How Canadians’ Use of
the Internet Affects Social life and Civic Participation. Innovation Analysis Bulletin.
Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 56F0004M
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman/publications/stats_can/statscan.pdf
(accessed January 27, 2010)

Veenhof, Ben. 2006a. “The Internet: Is it changing the way Canadians spend their
time?”Connectedness Series. No. 13. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 56F0004MIE.
http://www.statcan.ca/bsolc/english/bsolc?catno=56F0004MIE2006013 (accessed
January 27, 2010).

Lawrence O. Emeagwali     lawrenceemeagwali@gau.edu.tr  http://strategy‐lawrence.blogspot.com 
 
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Appendix 1

Lawrence O. Emeagwali     lawrenceemeagwali@gau.edu.tr  http://strategy‐lawrence.blogspot.com 
 
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Appendix 2
 

Lawrence O. Emeagwali     lawrenceemeagwali@gau.edu.tr  http://strategy‐lawrence.blogspot.com 
 
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Appendix 3

Lawrence O. Emeagwali     lawrenceemeagwali@gau.edu.tr  http://strategy‐lawrence.blogspot.com 
 
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Appendix 4 
 

Lawrence O. Emeagwali     lawrenceemeagwali@gau.edu.tr  http://strategy‐lawrence.blogspot.com 
 
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Appendix 5   
 

Lawrence O. Emeagwali     lawrenceemeagwali@gau.edu.tr  http://strategy‐lawrence.blogspot.com 
 
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Appendix 6

General perceptions of time and stress among

Internet users and non-users

Non-
Moderate users Heavy users
users
% of respondents
Perceptions reported by a significantly different proportion of Internet users
compared with non-users
Feel rushed every day 35.6 32.6** 29.9**
Most days are quite a bit or extremely stressful 20.7 19.3** 17.1**
Have time on my hands that I don’t know what
to do with: 20.7 23.2** 34.5**
every day or a few times a week
Have time on my hands that I don’t know what
to do with: 30.9 22.7** 17.4**
never
Considers self a workaholic 26.0 24.2** 20.6**
Cut back on sleep when I don’t have enough
47.0 52.8** 54.3**
time
Feel constantly under stress trying to accomplish
35.1 32.8** 30.7**
more than I can handle
Feel that I just don’t have time for fun anymore 32.9 28.9** 25.2**
Perceptions where difference between Internet users and non-users was not
statistically significant
Feel days are just too short to do all the things I
64.3 65.5** 61.2**
want
Regularly have trouble going to sleep or staying
29.9 29.0** 32.5**
asleep
Worry that I don’t spend enough time with family
40.8 39.9** 37.1**
or friends
Would like to spend more time alone 25.3 24.7** 22.9**
** Difference from non-users is statistically significant at the 99% confidence level (p < .01).
* Difference from non-users is statistically significant at the 95% confidence level (p < .05).
Source: Statistics Canada, General Social Survey, Cycle 19: Time Use, 2005.
 

Lawrence O. Emeagwali     lawrenceemeagwali@gau.edu.tr  http://strategy‐lawrence.blogspot.com