According to this BBC article, the authorities in India’s premier engineering institute, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Bombay (Mumbai), have cut off internet access to students in hostels at night. They apparently feel that 24-hour internet access is hampering students’ academic performance and overall personality development.
I agree. I am most productive when I do not use the Internet. Opening a browser window is just like opening a chocolate box (if you are into chocolate), there is such a wealth of interesting and entertaining information available that it is hard to just look at what you really need. Fast Internet connections only make this problem worse. A slow connection helps people realize that they are wasting their time. With fast Internet connections, you do not have to wait and therefore time flies. Before you realize it, you have spent too much time surfing the web.
Shutting down Internet access is not a good solution to improve sound Internet usage. Reducing the bandwidth is. Modem speeds are generally decent enough to allow students that require critical information at 3AM to complete a term paper, to access Google and Wikipedia. However, slow access will make sure they do not waste their time on YouTube or other Web 2.0 sites.