Usage of Internet in Armenia

Usage of Internet is increasing in the whole world very quickly. The statistic index shows it very clearly. For example, in China 22,5 million people used internet in 2000 and 513 million people use it now. 95,4 million people used internet in the USA and now the United States has 245 million users of the internet. India is on the 3rd place in the world by internet usage. 5 million people used it in India in 2000 and now their number reaches 121.000.000.

The internet boom started four years ago in Armenia. More than 1,5 million people use internet in Armenia. It means nearly 55 % of the whole population. Some villages do not have internet ability and if it is settled the number of users will certainly grow.

Facts and figures

For this research we have put a question on Facebook and asked Facebook friends whether they consider people in Armenia spend much time in front of computer and if it has become a problem for the society. The question was on Facebook for two days. 86 users answered to the question and 69% of users answered “yes”, 22 % consider that it is “not a rather big problem” and 9% of users consider that this is not a problem at all. Nearly 55 % of Armenian population uses internet.

Expert’s opinion

Karen Vrtanesyan, Armenian expert on information security and technological developments: “I can say that computer and internet boom started in Armenia nearly four years ago. When I organized an evening school named “Anatomy of propaganda” in 2008, many of my students did not have computer or internet at their homes. But when I organized the same school in 2010 there was no a student in the group which had not internet at home. I can say this is a world phenomenon and Armenia could not escape it as well. You know, computer is not evil, but if young people and especially children spend too much time with it so the consequences will be seen soon. Now teenagers do not play with each other, do not face real problems and it makes them weaker physiologically. And when they enter big life they become more sensitive. That is why they become more depressively and they are usually unable to stand against the problems they meet. Attempts of suicide among teenagers are becoming more and more frequent”.