The influence of reading habits on the use of internet: a study with university students

The university requires practices of searching, obtaining, evaluating, processing and interpreting information in digital format, so that students have to become expert decoders and critical readers, but it is not enough to be digital natives. In order to take advantage of the potentialities of web 2.0, it is essential to have reading competence. Based on the results of this research, carried out with a significant sample of students from different universities, specific profiles of the use of the internet linked to the reading habit are defined. The data reveal that university students do not exploit to the maximum the possibilities of academic development and learning that the internet offers them. The need to insert reading into the academic-professional project is reaffirmed, assuming ICT as an essential instrument for learning.