Internet Addiction: Where We Are Now
Author(s)
J. Morahan-Martin
Abstract
This paper provides an overview of research on Internet Abuse (IA) and its
relationship with other disorders. It suggests that it is important to differentiate
between IA and Internet-enabled pathologies such as sexual paraphilias and
pathological gambling which are performed online. Those who develop IA are
drawn to the socially interactive aspects of the Internet, and find their social
interactions are enhanced online compared to offline. A comprehensive model
proposed by Caplan suggests that those who lack self-presentational skills
develop a preference for online over face-to-face communication which leads
them to use online communication compulsively which in turn leads to IA. This
may explain the increased vulnerability for IA among those who are chronically
lonely and socially anxious. Criticisms of this research are discussed.
Keywords: Internet addiction, Internet abuse, pathological Internet use,
disturbed Internet use, psychopathology, social anxiety, loneliness, depression,
impulse control disorder, addiction.
1 Introduction
Reports of Internet abuse began to surface in the early 1990s when chroniclers of
social aspects of Internet use such as Rheingold [1] and Turkle [2] described a
small group of users whose use of the Internet was out of control and an
addictive quality. With the rapid spread of the Internet from a select group of
scientists, mathematicians and computer experts into the general public, media
reports began to surface about Internet addiction [3]. By the mid 1990s, research
began appearing in academic journals [4, 5]. In response to the perceived need,
treatment centers specializing in computer and Internet addiction were
developed; for example, the Computer Addiction Service at McLean Hospital, a
Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate, was founded in 1996. The online
Internet Addiction Disorder Support Group flourished even though its founder,
Keywords
Internet addiction, Internet abuse, pathological Internet use,
disturbed Internet use, psychopathology, social anxiety, loneliness, depression,
impulse control disorder, addiction.
Related Book
Other papers in this volume
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