Problematic Internet use or Internet addiction?

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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to review the gradually evolving body of the literature on Internet addiction. Two schools of thought have emerged: those authors who believe that Internet addiction merits classification as a new or emerging psychiatric disorder in its own right, and those who define certain individuals as having problematic Internet use in relation to specific online activities, such as gambling, email or pornography. Despite a total lack of methodologically sound research, the evidence appears to support the second perspective. It appears that individuals who are premorbidly vulnerable, especially with a history of impulse control and addictive disorders, are especially at risk of using the Internet in a problematic way. Aside from the personal and social implications of this finding, this behavior has important implications for the workplace and may be resulting in substantial loss of productivity in companies who are not implementing Internet governance policies.

Section snippets

Definition and prevalence

The concept of addiction, though traditionally used to describe a physical dependence on a substance (Holden, 2001), has been applied to excessive use of the Internet. A variety of terms have been used to describe this behavior, including “Internet addiction” (Bai et al., 2001, Mitchell, 2000, Shapira et al., 2000, Young, 1998), “pathological Internet use” (Davis, 2001), and “problematic Internet use” (Davis, Flett, & Besser, 2002). Researchers have described a syndrome of intense preoccupation

Etiology

Research in this area is generally of poor quality, with few studies using control groups, randomization, or well-validated measures. A number of psychosocial disorders are thought to be related to excessive Internet use. The presence of certain comorbid diagnoses, including mood disorders, bipolar disorders, and social anxiety disorder, are highly represented among groups of excessive Internet users (Shapira et al., 2000). A large proportion of individuals who overuse the Internet also meet or

Treatment

Excessive Internet use certainly has substantial social effects. Several studies have demonstrated that those individuals who spend too much time online tend to lose sleep (Anderson, 2001, Nalwa and Anand, 2003), decrease social communication (Kraut et al., 1998), have problems in their interpersonal relationships (Lin and Tsai, 2002, Young, 1998), and use the Internet as their primary means of alleviating stress and depression (Chou, 2001). Those who have asserted that Internet addiction is

Workplace implications

In Young’s original study of Internet addiction, approximately half of Internet-dependent individuals reported that they had suffered severe work- or school-related problems because they spent so much time online (Young, 1998). It has been shown that in the workplace, like at home, more interactive online applications are associated with more problems with Internet use (Davis et al., 2002). Young and Case (2004) demonstrated that the most common applications associated with problematic Internet

Conclusions

The Internet is a extremely important social and communications tool, and is changing our daily lives at home and at work. It is entirely predictable that any major new technology, or way of doing business, should be associated with a variety of human responses, some good, and some not so good. Research about the effects of the Internet is still in its infancy, and needs to be qualitatively and quantitatively improved. There is no doubt that some Internet users develop problematic behavior.

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