The Impact of the internet on Seafarer’s performance Onboard Ships

Ibrahim tayel, Alaa ammar, Tamer Mohamed hashem

DOI NO. https://doi.org/10.59660/45123 Received 24/6/2022, Revised 20/7/2022, Acceptance 5/8/2022, Available online  and Published 1/1/2023

Abstract

Getting online onboard ships is not a problem anymore since most ships are connected to the internet, causing seafarers’ lives to be poorly supported by peer groups, and overuse of social media can make seafarers even more lonely and isolated. Consequently, the performance of seafarers is affected as the overuse of the internet can affect the crew’s resting hours and cause fatigue, among other negative impacts.

This study aims at determining how seafarers’ performance onboard ships is affected by the overuse of the internet and finding out if seafarers support the idea of limiting the use of the internet onboard ships in order to avoid the factors that negatively affect the seafarers’ performance, which will help research offer recommendations for further research and application.

A survey was designed by the researchers in order to investigate the negative effects of seafarers’ using the internet onboard ships on their performance, represented in various variables, namely crew’s resting hours, the duration of seafarers’ contracts, crew’s lack of focus, crew’s ability to detect hazards, safety of navigation, social relations among crew members, distraction, and crew members’ psychological state.

The responses of the survey respondents were statistically analyzed using SPSS ((Statistical Package for the Social Sciences), a software program used by researchers in various disciplines for quantitative analysis of complex data.

The results of the survey proved that the excessive use of internet has a negative effect on all the previous variables, according to the responses of 203 seafarers from different age groups and backgrounds. It was concluded that there should be a limited time for seafarers to use the internet onboard ships in order to mitigate these negative effects.