| A consumer's behavioral patterns towards the Internet can be measured in a diverse number of ways, including, the person's Internet usage and what activities he/she engages in; his/her receiving of disturbing messages and the extent he/she feels cyberstalked, his/her response to being cyberstalked in terms of feelings of stress or anxiety, and how all this affects his/her relationship with the Internet. This research studies the transition from the Internet being used as a tool for convenience, to its making the user vulnerable to offensive behavior from others, and, ultimately, the selected group of consumer's perception of the Internet after receiving these intrusions. The data collected focuses on disturbing messages and how these chosen groups of consumers reacted to these messages in terms of their social-emotional behavior such as levels of stress or even anxiety. It also focuses on whether this response affected their perceptions of cyberstalking. Was this going to change their perception of the Internet and their use of it? In summary, the results of these analyses show that people who perceive a high degree of cyberstalking do react significantly differently in their use of the Internet and their reactions to Internet usage compared with people who perceive a low degree of cyberstalking. More interestingly, it also shows that reactions to cyberstalking are highly gender sensitive. |
