Is the Internet Addictive, or Are Addicts
Using the Internet?
By Storm A. King
December, 1996
Abstract
Recent research shows that some users of the Internet spend so much time
logged on, that their personal and/or professional
life suffers. This finding is corroborated by numerous anecdotal accounts
of people becoming "hooked" on on-line
interactivity, accounts that have circulated in on-line discussions as
well as in real life settings. It is becoming common to
know of someone, or have heard of someone, that has become enamored with
on-line activity to the point that they ignore
important personal responsibilities. This paper is an overview of current
research findings, and an attempt to explore some of
the possible explanations for this phenomena. Factors inherent in on-line
interactivity that might be contributing to developing
Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) are distinguished from factors inherent
in the people proposed to be most at risk for, or
suffering from, IAD. Recommendations for treatment of affected individuals
are offered.
What makes the Internet attractive?
Broken marriages, lost jobs, failing school grades and forgetting to eat
are just some of the consequences being reported in
media articles as the experience of people who feel they have become addicted
to Internet interpersonal communicating
(Jabs, 96; DeLoughry, 96; Suryaraman 96). It is the social aspect of computer
assisted communication, the interpersonal
exchange with others, that is so stimulating, rewarding and reinforcing
that some people are finding it hard to know when to
stop (Suler 96, Young 96). Cyberspace communications (email discussion
groups, chat rooms, bulletin boards and MOO's)
offer people an opportunity to experience a form of social contact, with
no real social presence. The significant difference
between cyberspace relationships and ones maintained by other existing
technologies (telephones, mail, fax's) is that the new
culture values of Internet virtual communities have as social norms ones
that allow for, and even encourage, contact with
relative strangers. "As Rheingold (94) notes, one might think the Net a
cold place, and yet it need not be. In the impersonal
isolation of our large cities, where people often live separated from kin
or lonely amid the multitudes, the Net can become a
surrogate social-life-a vital source of interpersonal contact despite its
non-physical nature. " (North, 96).
Because cyberspace does not offer a means to monitor others non-verbal
responses to one's communications, several
unconscious, firmly held expectations about communications protocols are
challenged (Huang, 96). A critical factor in
understanding how text based interpersonal relationships can lead some
people to experience pathological consequences is
the dis-inhibiting effect inherent in on-line interactivity. The improbability
of any local, real life repercussions for on-line social
activity produces a new and poorly understood psychological phenomena;
people feel free to express themselves in an
unrestrained manner. "If all computer-mediated communication systems can
be said to have one single unifying effect upon
human behavior it is that usage tends to cause the user to become less
inhibited." (Reid, 94). Judgments of others in this
virtual social setting, made without the normal sensual clues, can consist
of distorted, emotionally laden projections (King,
95), and can be communicated without the normal constraints imposed by
the need to maintain social order. This is a
naturally exciting, stimulating and reinforcing aspect of Internet communications,
one that contributes to the occurrence of
IAD.
"An on-line community is one of the easiest ways to meet new people. Certainly
it is very low-risk. I think this is mainly
due to the essential informality of on-line conversation. Rather than being
required to sustain a single conversation
with one or more people, relationships usually form out of numerous, often
short exchanges. In a way, it reminds me of
commuters who take the bus or ferry. They see each other frequently but
each encounter is of a fairly short duration.
In situations like this the pressure is minimal. If you'd rather read the
paper than chat then you just do it and don't
worry about it. But, over time, many people form enduring relationships
this way. In the on-line environment, just like
any other social situation, the basic currency is human attention. In the
public forums, you communicate with groups
that may have as many as several hundred people involved - even if they
don't all make comments." (Coate, 92)
Internet communication increases the range of possible social networks
that a person can connect to, and adds elements of
diversity that are very appealing to some (Wellman, 96). There is a "hyperpersonal
aspect" to Internet communications, a
way to be more selective about how one presents ones self. The kinds of
differences between people that might inhibit
relationship formation are hidden. This promotes a sense of group membership,
one that is solely depended on the
perceptions of the receiver. Control over impression formation is enhanced
in written mediums. "Another component of the
model, feedback, suggests that these heightened self-presentations and
idealized perceptions magnify each other to a
superordinal level, as users reciprocate each other's partial and selective
presentations." (Walther, 96). This magnification
factor of the hyperpersonal model is a theoretical formulation that could
help account for the high rates of flame wars
(arguments) and love affairs that happen on the net. There is as
yet no empirical evidence supporting the observation that
flame wars and love affairs occure in open, interactive virtual communities
at a rate higher than what one would expect, but
there is a growing body of anecdotal reports of this and a widespread awareness
of a high frequency of these extreme
interpersonal cyberspace exchanges.
There can be a voyeuristic aspect to cyberspace participation, which may
be more salient to some that others. People that
"lurk", participate in a read only mode, in chat rooms or email groups,
are surreptitiously witnessing the ideas, feelings and
interactions of the active participants. In the more academic discussion
forums, where the social norm is the exchange of
research ideas and the philosophic debate of social abstraction, this voyeuristic
component is not a significant attraction. This
is in contrast to some chat rooms where the suggested topics often invite
flirtations, or the forums set up to provide emotional
support for difficult personal problems. In these forums, lurking is a
means of gaining access to very personal information in a
manner that no real life forum can offer. This electronic eavesdropping
is one possible source for the positive reinforcement
that the nature of the Internet provides to those for whom it's use has
become pathological. This emotional stimulation is on a
schedule of reinforcement called variable-ratio, as one can never predict
just when some "juicy tid-bit" of self-revelation will
come across one's screen, and the actual exposure rate to this is dependent
on the amount of time spent on-line.
The attributes of Internet communications that stand out as offering the
potential for rewarding, stimulating emotional
involvement's include; it's ease of access and 24 hour availability, the
wide range of diverse personal connections possible,
the hyperpersonal nature of interpersonal relationships, the ability to
witness others interacting (with no risk) and the
uninhibited nature of no risk relating. It is reasonable to assume that
many people will find one or more of these factors
reinforcing enough to become passionate about their Internet activities,
at least for the initial period of time when they are still
discovering the capabilities of new Internet social connections. These
factors are necessary, but not sufficient, to explain true
pathologic computer use. Some additional qualities inherent in the user
must be present that differentiate those for whom
Internet communications are a passionate past-time from those for whom
this activity becomes a compulsion resulting in loss.
The passion possible is understandable, as virtual community involvement's
dissolve geographic boundaries and expand the
ability of people with common interests to share ideas important to them.
However, the nature of addiction is to continue to
pursue the initial excitement one received, at the risk of other social
involvement's and responsibilities.
What is Internet Addiction?
A passion adds value to one's life, an addiction takes away value. When
the line between these two is crossed, the addict is
often the last to know, due to their denial. A family and social history
will reveal that the subject is being evaluated by close
friends as actually suffering a great loss from their activity.
Internet Addiction Disorder is the term first proposed by Dr. Ivan Goldberg
for pathological, compulsive Internet usage. The
criteria for this disorder are listed in appendix 1 and are based on similar
criteria for substance abused disorders found in the
DSM-IV. It is ironic that Dr. Goldberg was not serious about proposing
this as an official diagnostic category, yet this term
became used extensively. Dr. Goldberg recently revised his suggestion to
change the term for this condition to Pathological
Computer Use, and changed several of the criteria.
Pathological Computer Use Disorder was proposed by me as the name for a
disorder in which people overuse
computers to the extent that (A and/or B):
A. Such use causes them distress;
B. Such use has a detrimental effect on their physical, psychological,
interpersonal, marital, economic, or social
functioning.
A parallel unofficial disorder would be 'workaholism" and the parallel
official DSM-IV diagnosis would be
"Pathological Gambling."(Goldberg, 96)
In another note posted to the Internet, Dr. Goldberg refers to this condition
as one that causes "Decreased occupational,
academic, social, work-related, family-related, financial, psychological,
or physiological functioning." For this study, the term
Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD) will be used to designate a pathological
use of computers, to engage in social interactivity.
The term Pathological Computer Use (PCU) will be reserved for the broader
category in which someone is pathological
about any aspect of computers, and includes uses that are not social in
their nature.
There is an increasing attention being paid to this problem in the US.
The field has a long ways to go before a complete
understanding of this phenomena is reached, but there are two forces that
are motivating the effort. One is a business
interests. Corporate executives are quickly learning that they risk loosing
valuable worker productivity as they provide
Internet access to their employees, if that employee becomes hooked on
the interactivity available. The other force is coming
from the area of social psychology, as more and more people report to each
other stories of horror about friends that have
lost jobs, students that have failed out of school, and others who end
up with $500. American On-line bills.
Dr. Kimberly Young, a leading researcher of this disorder, used the following
criteria for assessing IAD in a large initial study
of this problem.
Do you feel preoccupied with the Internet or on-line services and think
about it while off line?
Do you feel a need to spend more and more time on line to achieve satisfaction?
Are you unable to control your on-line use?
Do you feel restless or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop your
on-line use?
Do you go on line to escape problems or relieve feelings such as helplessness,
guilt, anxiety or
depression?
Do you lie to family members or friends to conceal how often and how long
you stay on-line?
Do you risk the loss of a significant relationship, job, or educational
or career opportunity because of
your on-line use?
Do you keep returning even after spending too much money on on-line fees?
Do you go through withdrawal when off line, such as increased depression,
moodiness, or irritability?
Do you stay on line longer than originally intended?
In several months of having a survey posted to a Web site, Dr. Young received
over 400 respondents that self reported
meeting 4 or more of the 10 criteria, and were thus diagnosed with IAD.
Dr. Young states, in an interview, that many
respondents reported what she termed a "centralization of use of the Internet
at the expense of other activities" and "putting
priority on maintaining electronic relationships." When asked about the
prevalence rates for this condition, Dr. Young replied
that, in the absence of any hard data, she would guess that the rates were
similar to the rates for Pathological Gambling, or
between 1 to 5 percent of all Internet users. Dr. Young felt that the ability
to assume different roles, to develop intimate
relationships and to be unconcerned about any possible repercussions were
the most important factors of Internet
interconnectivity that were most likely to contribute to the potential
for IAD. The contrast between these new, exciting and
projection filled relationships and ones real life ones may make existing
associations seem dull in comparison (Young, 96).