Free Essay

Internet Addiciton Disorder

In: Social Issues

Submitted By Greatnesss
Words 2239
Pages 9
What is Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD)?
What "Internet addiction disorder" (IAD) is still difficult to define at this time. Much of the original research was based upon the weakest type of research methodology, namely exploratory surveys with no clear hypothesis or rationale backing them. Coming from an atheoretical approach has some benefits, but also is not typically recognized as being a strong way to approach a new disorder. More recent research has expanded upon the original surveys and anecdotal case study reports. However, as I will illustrate below later, even these studies don't support the conclusions the authors claim.
The original research into this disorder began with exploratory surveys, which cannot establish causal relationships between specific behaviors and their cause. While surveys can help establish descriptions of how people feel about themselves and their behaviors, they cannot draw conclusions about whether a specific technology, such as the Internet, has actually caused those behaviors. Those conclusions that are drawn are purely speculative and subjective made by the researchers themselves. Researchers have a name for this logical fallacy, ignoring a common cause. It's one of the oldest fallacies in science, and one still regularly perpetrated in psychological research today.

Do some people have problems with spending too much time online? Sure they do. Some people also spend too much time reading, watching television, and working, and ignore family, friendships, and social activities. But do we have TV addiction disorder, book addiction, and work addiction being suggested as legitimate mental disorders in the same category as schizophrenia and depression? I think not. It's the tendency of some mental health professionals and researchers to want to label everything they see as potentially harmful with a new diagnostic category. Unfortunately, this causes more harm than it helps people. (The road to "discovering" IAD is filled with many logical fallacies, not the least of which is the confusion between cause and effect.)

What most people online who think they are addicted are probably suffering from is the desire to not want to deal with other problems in their lives. Those problems may be a mental disorder (depression, anxiety, etc.), a serious health problem or disability, or a relationship problem. It is no different than turning on the TV so you won't have to talk to your spouse, or going "out with the boys" for a few drinks so you don't have to spend time at home. Nothing is different except the modality.

What some very few people who spend time online without any other problems present may suffer from is compulsive over-use. Compulsive behaviors, however, are already covered by existing diagnostic categories and treatment would be similar. It's not the technology (whether it be the Internet, a book, the telephone, or the television) that is important or addicting -- it's the behavior. And behaviors are easily treatable by traditional cognitive-behavior techniques in psychotherapy.

Case studies, the alternative to surveys used for many conclusions drawn about online overuse, are just as problematic. How can we really draw any reasonable conclusions about millions of people online based upon one or two case studies? Yet media stories, and some researchers, covering this issue usually use a case study to help "illustrate" the problem. All a case study does is influence our emotional reactions to the issue; it does nothing to help us further understand the actual problem and the many potential explanations for it. Case studies on an issue like this are usually a red flag that help frame the issue in an emotional light, leaving hard, scientific data out of the picture. It is a common diversionary tactic.

There is more research that needs to be critically examined here, which I will provide descriptive analyses of shortly.

Why Does the Research Leave Something to Be Desired?
Well, the obvious answer is that many of the original researchers into the phenomenon known as IAD were actually clinicians who decided to conduct a survey. Usually doctoral training is sufficient to create and test a survey, yet the psychometric properties of these surveys are never released. (Perhaps because they were never conducted in the first place? We simply do not know.)
The obvious confounds are never controlled for in most of these surveys. Questions about pre-existing or a history of mental disorders (e.g., depression, anxiety), health problems or disabilities, or relationship problems are absent from these surveys. Since this is one of the most obvious alternative explanations for some of the data being obtained (for example, see Storm King's article, Is the Internet Addictive, or Are Addicts Using the Internet? below), it is very surprising these questions are left off. It taints all the data and make the data virtually useless.

Other factors are simply not controlled for. The current Internet population is nearly 50/50 in terms of proportion of men to women. Yet people are still drawing conclusions about this same group of people based upon survey samples that have 70-80% men, comprised mostly of white Americans. Researchers barely mention these discrepancies, all of which will again skew the results.

Research done in a particular area should also agree about certain very basic things after a time. Years have gone by and there are more than a few studies out there looking at Internet addiction. Yet none of them agree on a single definition for this problem, and all of them vary widely in their reported results of how much time an "addict" spends online. If they can't even get these basics down, it is not surprising the research quality still suffers.

More research has been done since the original surveys were released in 1996. This newer research has been conducted by more independent researchers with clearer hypotheses and stronger, less biased population sets. More about these studies will be discussed in updates to this article.

Where Did It Come From?
Good question. It came from, believe it or not, the criteria for pathological gambling, a single, anti-social behavior that has very little social redeeming value. Researchers in this area believe they can simply copy this criteria and apply it to the hundreds of behaviors carried out everyday on the Internet, a largely pro-social, interactive, and information-driven medium. Do these two dissimilar areas have much in common beyond their face value? I don't see it.
I don't know of any other disorder currently being researched where the researchers, showing all the originality of a trash romance novel writer, simply "borrowed" the diagnostic symptom criteria for an unrelated disorder, made a few changes, and declared the existence of a new disorder. If this sounds absurd, it's because it is.

And this speaks to the larger problem these researchers grapple with... Most have no theory driving their assumptions (see Walther, 1999 for a further discussion of this issue). They see a client in pain (and in fact, I've sat in many presentations by these clinicians where they start it off with just such an example), and figure, "Hey, the Internet caused this pain. I'm going to go out and study what makes this possible on the Internet." There's no theory (well, sometimes there's theory after-the-fact), and while some quasi-theoretical explanations are slowly emerging, it is putting the chicken far before the egg.

Do You Spend Too Much Time Online?
In relation to what or whom? Time alone cannot be an indicator of being addicted or engaging in compulsive behavior. Time must be taken in context with other factors, such as whether you're a college student (who, as a whole, proportionally spend a greater amount of time online), whether it's a part of your job, whether you have any pre-existing conditions (such as another mental disorder; a person with depression is more likely to spend more time online than someone who doesn't, for instance, often in a virtual support group environment), whether you have problems or issues in your life which may be causing you to spend more time online (e.g., using it to "get away" from life's problems, a bad marriage, difficult social relations), etc. So talking about whether you spend too much time online without this important context is useless.
What Makes the Internet So Addictive?
Well, as I have shown above, the research is exploratory at this time, so suppositions such as what makes the Internet so "addictive" are no better than guesses. Since other researchers online have made their guesses known, here are mine.
Since the aspects of the Internet where people are spending the greatest amount of time online have to do with social interactions, it would appear that socialization is what makes the Internet so "addicting." That's right -- plain old hanging out with other people and talking with them. Whether it's via e-mail, a discussion forum, chat, or a game online (such as a MUD), people are spending this time exchanging information, support, and chit-chat with other people like themselves.

Would we ever characterize any time spent in the real world with friends as "addicting?" Of course not. Teenagers talk on the phone for hours on end, with people they see everyday! Do we say they are addicted to the telephone? Of course not. People lose hours at a time, immersed in a book, ignoring friends and family, and often not even picking up the phone when it rings. Do we say they are addicted to the book? Of course not. If some clinicians and researchers are now going to start defining addiction as social interactions, then every real-world social relationship I have is an addictive one.

Socializing -- talking -- is a very "addictive" behavior, if one applies the same criteria to it as researchers looking at Internet addiction do. Does the fact that we're now socializing with the help of some technology (can you say, "telephone"?) change the basic process of socialization? Perhaps, a bit. But not so significantly as to warrant a disorder. Checking e-mail, as Greenfield claims, is not the same as pulling a slot-machine's handle. One is social seeking behavior, the other is reward seeking behavior. They are two very different things, as any behaviorist will tell you. It's too bad the researchers can't make this differentiation, because it shows a significant lack of understanding of basic behavioral theory.

Alternative Hypotheses
In addition to those previously discussed, here is an alternative hypothesis that no research to date has seriously considered -- that the behaviors we are observing are phasic. That is, for most people with "Internet addiction," they are likely newcomers to the Internet. They are going through the first stage of acclimating themselves to a new environment -- by fully immersing themselves in it. Since this environment is so much larger than anything we've ever seen before, some people get "stuck" in the acclimation ( or enchantment) stage for a longer period of time than is typical for acclimating to new technologies, products, or services. Walther (1999) made a similar observation based upon the work of Roberts, Smith, and Pollack (1996). The Roberts et al. study found that online chat activity was phasic -- people first were enchanted by the activity (characterized by some as obsession), followed by disillusionment with chatting and a decline in usage, and then a balance was reached where the level of chat activity normalized.
I hypothesize that this type of model can be more globally applied to online usage in general:

Some people simply get caught in Stage I and never move beyond it. They may need some help to get to Stage III.
For existing online users, my model allows for overuse as well, since the overuse is defined by finding a new online activity. I would argue, though, that existing users have a much more easier time successfully navigating through these stages for new activities they find online than newcomers to the Internet. It is possible, however, for an existing user to find a new activity (such as an attractive chat room or newsgroup or Website) that could lead them back into this model.

Note one important distinction about my model... It makes the assumption that since all online activity is phasic to some degree, all people will eventually get to Stage III on their own. Just like a teenager learns to not spend hours on the telephone every night on their own (eventually!), most adults online will also learn how to responsibly integrate the Internet into their lives. For some, this integration simply takes longer than others.

What Do I Do If I Think I Have It?
First, don't panic. Second, just because there is a debate about the validity of this diagnostic category amongst professionals doesn't mean there isn't help for it. In fact, as I mentioned earlier, help is readily available for this problem without needing to create all this hoopla about a new diagnosis.
If you have a life problem, or are grappling with a disorder such as depression, seek professional treatment for it. Once you admit and address the problem, other pieces of your life will fall back into place.

Psychologists have studied compulsive behaviors and their treatments for years now, and nearly any well-trained mental health professional will be able to help you learn to slowly curve the time spent online, and address the problems or concerns in your life that may have contributed to your online overuse, or were caused by it. No need for a specialist or an online support group.

Similar Documents

Free Essay

Internet Addition

...the adolescent that lead to internet addiction. The internet has become a huge part of the adolescent lifestyle opening up the cyber world for them. The excessive over use of the internet is known as internet addiction and anyone can become an internet addict. The over use of the internet can hinder many things in a person’s life such as cutting oneself off from the outside world, performing badly at tasks, or having bad time management problems. Many adolescent addicts have been known to be susceptible to substance use, and be involved in many risky online activities such as the following; meeting someone in person that they have never seen before, or even going as fare as becoming involved in cybering, also known as cybersex. There are many factors that can either help feed an internet addiction or help to keep adolescence from having an internet addiction. Parental monitoring believes that by good parental monitoring parents can actually alter an adolescent’s behavior, thoughts, and feelings toward leisure time thus keeping them from having an internet addiction. The study was measured with a survey by asking adolescence questions like the following with a rating on a scale of 1-7: do your parents know how you spend your pocket money, how you spend your leisure time, where you were last night. The results showed that the adolescence were strictly monitored by their parents which shows to have a negative effect on an adolescent being an Internet Addict. Although the study...

Words: 748 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Internet Addiction

...Historical Analysis Paper: Internet Addiction- A Rising Issue The number of Internet users has intensely went up over the years due to the growing accessibility of the Internet. In 2009 the amount of time Americans spent online increased by over a hundred percent from 2004. China, Japan, the United States, Brazil and India are currently the countries containing the largest populations of Internet users world-wide. The countries most plagued with Internet Addiction Disorder include mainly the countries within the continent of Asia such as China and South Korea as well as Northern America, United States (Conrad). Internet addiction has become a serious problem that is progressively modifying the brain structure and function for persons addicted. Like other forms of addiction, the Internet addiction results from the excessive usage of the computer and other internet enabled technological devices which causes increased dependency. Psychological issues and Mental disorders generally tend to lead individuals towards various forms of addictions and exacerbates their illness; this can happen in the reverse chronological order as well. College students are more likely to be disposed towards Internet Addiction because of their developing minds at that stage and the increasing role the Internet plays in the academic world. Scientists are currently researching for more and more efficient treatments for this Internet Addiction Disorder or IAD, but hey must initially be able to correct...

Words: 1999 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Social Network Addiction

...another. Now in 2010 people usually relate to a social network by thinking of Facebook and Myspace. These websites have grown so large and fast in the past decade that there have even been movies made about their success with A list actors competing for lead roles. It seems that the whole world has gotten caught up with this so-called Facebook and Internet addiction. I catch my sister spending up to 20 hours a week wasting her life away on Internet alone. CNN reports people spending entire nights just customizing their page, even if they have work the next day. Scientists like Dr. Block of Seattle’s research institute report of patients who use the Internet excessively more than 30 or 40 hours a week. New studies suggest Internet addicts are in the millions. There are lots of treatments available from 12 step programs found all over the internet ironically to methods like using a timer next to your computer every time you log on. The one I found to be most useful was a software program that will let you log onto a site life Facebook on specific days but only for a limited amount of time. Overall I think that Internet and Social Network Addictions are more about people not being able to manage their time successfully I do agree that people do suffer from...

Words: 295 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Social Media Paper

...Beatrice Iheuwa College Writing II Social Media – Rough Draft Fall 2009 Instagram is an online mobile photo sharing application through social networking, this enables users to share videos and pictures and connect them with other social networking platforms like Facebook and twitter. In October 2010 Instagram was created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger as a free mobile application and then it rapidly gained attention and grew in popularity with over 100 million active users in April 2012 and over 300 million as of December 2014. Instagram was then acquired by Facebook Co-founder Mark Zuckerberg for about $1 Billion dollars and Facebook got all rights to user’s photos and to sell user’s photos to a third party without notification or compensation. The person I chose to interview is my best friend Susan, I have known Susan for about 10 years now and one thing I know about her is that she loves attention and loves taking pictures. I believe Instagram was made for her. Susan first learned about Instagram sometime in 2011 being that Instagram started on October 6th 2010 so she wasn’t too late in signing up like the rest of us. She said the first time she signed up she wasn’t too savvy about the application she just loved the fact that she could take pictures and then filter them however she likes then upload them into the app for the whole world to see. Susan’s first post was a picture of her face which we now call a selfie, she said whenever she did her makeup and hair...

Words: 1070 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Research

...the scientific community. In the present study, we focused on screening gamers at potential risk of MMORPG addiction. Methods: In this exploratory study, we focused on characteristics, online habits and problematic overuse in adult MMORPG gamers. In addition to socio-demographical data and gamer behavioral patterns, 3 different instruments for screening addiction were used in French MMORPG gamers recruited online over 10 consecutive months: the substance dependence criteria for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, fourth revised edition (DSM-IV-TR) that has been adapted for MMORPG (DAS), the qualitative Goldberg Internet Addiction Disorder scale (GIAD) and the quantitative Orman Internet Stress Scale (ISS). For all scales, a score above a specific threshold defined positivity. Results: The 448 participating adult gamers were mainly young adult university graduates living alone in urban areas. Participants showed high rates of both Internet addiction (44.2% for GIAD, 32.6% for ISS) and DAS positivity (27.5%). Compared to the DAS negative group, DAS positive gamers reported significantly higher rates of tolerance phenomenon (increased amount of time in online gaming to obtain the desired effect)...

Words: 400 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Online Addictions

...In today’s world, everyone is connected to the internet either by phone, computers, or tablets. By being able to escape the real world and enter the “internet world” with a push of a button, more and more issues arise with your daily life, work, and relationships. Do you spend more time playing games, repeatedly checking texts, emails, websites or apps? Do you spend more time interacting on social media, rather than interacting with real people? If you answer “yes” to both of these questions, then you might have an online addiction. Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD), causes neurological complications, psychological disturbances, and social problems. With spending more time on social networking, dating apps, and texting, you get to a point where you care more about online friends then your real-life friends and relationships. Gaming, shopping, bidding, stock trading, are considered online compulsions. With these examples at your beck and call, can put you in financial trouble. Other effects of online addictions are increase in loneliness and depression, increase in stress, and disrupt your sleep. There are many steps to lessen the impact of online addictions. Developing coping skills will help to reduce urges to use the internet. Getting support from friends or family, logging your time, or set a timer. Or by substituting internet usage with other activities, like taking a walk, reading a book, or calling a friend. Smartphone Addiction. (n.d.). http://www.helpguide...

Words: 290 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Rp Esl

...A New Disorder: Internet Addiction The Internet has become an essential factor in all aspects of people’s lives. Governments and companies around the world rely on the Internet in most of their work. Employees often use the Internet for their jobs. Most education systems make the Internet a basic standard of their teaching procedure. Students use the Internet to do their assignments or to search for information that could help them. Generally the Internet is a daily basis for most individuals. Therefore, a new phenomenon has emerged recent years. Those who overuse the Internet can be addicted, the same as alcoholics and drug addicts. Commonly, they probably spend 40-80 hours/weakly (Young; par. 7). This addiction can be to pornography, gambling, chatting and social network websites or any other interest that could keep a person online for a long time. Although some scientists believe that Internet addiction disorder is not real because people can be taught and trained how to use the Internet sensibly, psychologists, parents and teachers should consider that it is possible to have an Internet addiction disorder because the Internet leads to health problems, impacts addicts’ personal lives, and causes similar symptoms to other addictions. Some of the main issues about the Internet are its neurological, psychological and physical effects. Brains cells are the most essential cells in the whole body because they control most of a person’s activities. According to Alice G. Walton...

Words: 1330 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

College

...average World ofWarcraftiunkie undoubtedly represents a much less destructive social force than the average meth head. But it’s not extreme anecdotes that make the specter of Internet addiction so threatening; it’s the fact that Internet overuse has the potential to scale in a way that few other addictions do. Even if Steve designed a really cool - looking syringe and started distributing free heroin on street corners, not everyone would try it. But who among us doesn't already check his email more often than necessary?As the Internet weaves itself more and more tightly into our lives, only the Amish are completely safe. As early as 1996, Kimberly Young was promoting the idea that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) should add Internet addiction disorder to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual Mental Disorders (DSM). In February, the APA announced that its coming edition of the DSM, the first major revision since 1994, will for the first time classify a behavior - related condition — pathological gambling-as an “addiction” rather than an “impulse control disorder.” Internet addiction disorder is not being included in this new category of “behavioral addictions,” but the APA said it will consider it as a “potential addition . . . as research data accumulate.” If the APA does add excessive Internet use to the DSM, the consequences will be wide - ranging. Health insurance companies will start offering at least partial coverage for treatment programs such as reSTART....

Words: 446 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Comput

...Computer Game Addiction - Symptoms, Treatment, & FAQs By Dr. Brent Conrad Clinical Psychologist for TechAddiction What is computer game addiction? Computer game addiction generally refers to an excessive, unhealthy amount of playing computer games. Rather than engaging in the real world, an addicted user devotes the majority of his or her time to gaming. The addicted gamer often isolates him/herself from others, ignores more important responsibilities, and is often obsessed with obtaining higher status / rankings / achievements in his/her favorite computer game. Is computer game addiction a diagnosable disorder? According to the DSM-IV (the current manual for classifying emotional, psychological, and mental disorders), no. Although there have been calls from some mental health professionals (and parents) to recognize computer game addiction as a "real" disorder, it has not been granted official diagnostic status. As more research on the effects of excessive gaming is conducted, many believe that it is only a matter of time before computer game addiction is classified as a compulsive behavior similar to gambling addiction.   What are the symptoms of computer game addiction? Because there is no official diagnosis of computer game addiction, there is obviously no universally agreed upon list of symptoms. Psychologists and other mental health professionals initially adapted the diagnostic criteria for gambling addiction and used this as a rough assessment tool for computer...

Words: 1815 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Social Networking

...possible in person, especially in the workplace, universities, and high schools, it is most popular online. This is because unlike most high schools, colleges, or workplaces, the internet is filled with millions of individuals who are looking to meet other people, to gather and share first-hand information and experiences about cooking, golfing, gardening, developing friendships professional alliances, finding employment, business-to-business marketing and even groups sharing information about baking cookies to the Thrive Movement.  The topics and interests are as varied and rich as the story of our universe. When it comes to online social networking, websites are commonly used. These websites are known as social sites. Social networking websites function like an online community of internet users. Depending on the website in question, many of these online community members share common interests in hobbies, religion, politics and alternative lifestyles. Once you are granted access to a social networking website you can begin to socialize. This socialization may include reading the profile pages of other members and possibly even contacting them. The friends that you can make are just one of the many  benefits to social networking online. Another one of those benefits includes diversity because the internet gives individuals from all around the world access to social networking sites. This means that although you are in the United States, you could develop an online friendship with...

Words: 8371 - Pages: 34